Ghosts in the Night
by AdmHawthorne
Summary: After figuring out a few details regarding their relationship, a tragedy befalls Maura, which pushes Jane over the edge. It becomes a race to stop Jane from doing the unthinkable as Frost and the team try to catch the unstable detective. Rizzles. I swear it's an eventual happy ending. Changed to M rating for Ch. 12. Could be a trigger.
1. Chapter 1

**A very special thanks to insertsongreference (you can find her on tumblr) for her suggestion of this writing prompt. This story's basic plot line was all her idea, and it was a fantastic one! I feel really lucky she made the suggestion. Thank you for that, ma'am.**

**Just so you know, I'm going to post this story as I go.**

**As usual, the characters aren't mine. They belong to Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro, Turner Broadcasting, Warner Brothers, and other assorted important people. I gain nothing from writing these stories but the fun of doing it. Please don't sue me.**

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It wasn't that Jane didn't want to admit she knew about the rumors. It was more she didn't think they were worth acknowledging. The way she saw it, it was a no win situation. If she said something to anyone about it, everyone would say she was protesting too much, which would make it seem like she was exactly what all the rumors accused of her being. If she said nothing, then, like claiming the 5th on the stand, she was guilty by way of saying naught to deny the accusations.

The rumors flying around the station were the very definition of the saying, "Damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

In her defense, the rumors had nothing to do with her work ethic. There wasn't a person on the force that would question her dedication to her job, nor would anyone say she wasn't one of the top detectives Boston PD had ever had the luck to employ. In the grand scheme of things, the rumors affect her job not at all, but, on a smaller scale, it was taxing to know people were discussing her private affairs whenever they thought she wouldn't know they were doing so.

The last thing Jane Rizzoli liked to be was the center of attention for anything, which is why she decided the first year she and Maura Isles worked together that it was best to ignore the whispers and knowing looks and, instead, focus on catching the bad guys and avoiding early morning yoga sessions.

She thought she was doing a decent job of keeping her life in balance until it all transitioned from what she affectionately called 'cop life drama' to what she disdainfully called 'Let's Play, 'How Much More Can Janie Take'. It seemed like her life went from the normal grind of what a person might expect a detective to have to deal with to a constant barrage of the worst possible scenarios she could ever hope to never want to see happen.

She could mentally make a checklist of the events she wished had never happened, and she did so often as she asked herself where her life had turned into a soap opera or, at the very least, where it had turned weird. Without a doubt, it all started going south when she found Hoyt had an apprentice that turned out to be exmilitary, and she was captured by the escaped lunatic and his new protégé. From there, she could run an ever increasing checklist of events through her mind's mental checklist:

A retired detective becomes the new Boston Strangler and nearly kills Maura

She is forced to shoot a college RA turned pimp who murdered one of his residents turned hooker

Maura's exboyfriend surfaces only to be found as the murderer who took down his own brother

Another apprentice shows up in the guise of a woman interested in her brother, and Frankie has to kill her to protect them both from being killed

Maura finds out her sperm donor is none other than Paddy Doyle, infamous mob boss, who then kidnaps her, which scares the living shit out of Jane

Dirty cop Marino takes her hostage to escape after killing half the people in her precinct, and she has to shoot through herself to take him down, causing her months of rehabilitation, hours of therapy, and a new scar to match the rest

Her father leaves her mother for a younger woman and files for divorce while she's recovering from her self inflicted gunshot wound

The daughter of her former partner from Narcotics is kidnapped, and, upon finding the kidnapper, Jane is forced to kill him when he attacks with an axe

Paddy Doyle shows up at Maura's door demanding medical treatment while someone stirs up the mob, which scares Jane as she realizes her best friend is in danger and arrives at Maura's house to find both the doctor and her youngest brother safely tied up inside

Hoyt has cancer, demands to talk to Jane to confess, tricks them all, has a new apprentice, and nearly kills both Jane and Maura but Jane gets the upper hand and kills Hoyt

To protect Frost, Jane shoots Paddy Doyle after he shoots FBI Agent and sometimes love interest Gabriel Dean, which causes a huge rift between her and Maura

Her father shows up out of the blue wanting an annulment vouched for by the Catholic church, thus effectively making her and her siblings bastards in the eyes of God and hurting her mother even more

She finds herself trapped in a car being flooded with water with a delusion Maura beside her, who is in the physical state she's in because of a car crash which lead to Jane cutting into the doctor's leg with a piece of broke cell phone screen to prevent Maura from losing her leg

Jane finds out her sometimes love interest Casey is back from Afghanistan and is physical disabled due to an IED, and she's hurt that he wouldn't trust her enough to let her be there for him

One of her childhood friends is murdered by his brothers to prevent him from breaking up the boy band they're all in and preventing additional money growth

She is kidnapped by a man she knew when she was younger and only through a bakery. He knocks her out, undresses her, redresses her, ties her to a bed in a room that looks exactly like her bedroom but with manipulated pictures of him and her plastered on the walls, and treats her like they've been married for years. She only gets out because she finds the camera he keeps trained on her and prays that Frost has found a way of cracking in to see her and figure out where she is

Maura is nearly killed by a man she had earlier saved and was clearly smitten with. It is a stroke of luck, some quick talking from Jane, and a lot of internal prayer that prevents him from taking Maura with him on his multi-story journey down an open elevator shaft to his death

The list went on. These were only the major things her mind would always insert whenever she mentally started creating the list, which was normally at night when she couldn't sleep. It was better than the alternative, which was thinking about the rumors about her floating around the station. The fact she would rather think about the horrible, terrifying, and mentally and emotionally scarring events in her life than consider what the rumor mill said about her and Maura was enough to make her steadfastly ignore the fact she was ignoring the fact she was avoiding what everyone seemed to think was crystal clear to all but the two people they was gossiping about like old church ladies on a Wednesday afternoon.

That is to say, Jane preferred to mentally rundown her soap opera of a life than face the possibility she and Maura might have something more going on than an extremely close friendship. Sure it was true Maura had opened her home up to the entire Rizzoli clan, allowing Jane's mother to live in her guest house. It was also true the two women often went to each other in times where they needed emotional support and someone to trust enough to fall asleep crying in their arms. Yes, Jane might possibly be accused of being over protective of Maura, and the detective didn't care for any of the men Maura had dated. Conversely, Maura rarely encouraged Jane to do much more than have a little fun with the men she chose to date. However, none of that meant there was more to their relationship than a very strong, protective, loving, and close friendship. It just meant they had each other's back.

At least, that's what Jane told herself on those sleepless nights before pushing thoughts of Maura from her mind lest they drift to something uncomfortable and replacing those thoughts with her mental checklist of things that gave her nightmares. The things that gave her nightmares grounded her to her reality. They reminded her of why Maura couldn't harbor the feelings the rumor mill said she did because Jane's life was too dangerous and too complicated to allow someone as gentle and caring as Maura to be any more involved than what she already was.

If Jane was honest with herself about it all, which she rarely allowed herself to be, she would admit Maura's life was just as complicated and just as dangerous but in different ways. She would remind herself that Maura was tough as well as gentle and strong as well as caring. What's more, their lives were already intertwined almost beyond the point of being able to cleanly separate, but those were thoughts she didn't allow to surface for long before she grounded herself with reminders of why those thoughts were ridiculous to have in the first place.

Even _if _she held deep feelings for Maura, it wasn't likely Maura returned them in kind. There was also the fact Maura was a woman, her best friend, and way out of her league. The rumor mill was wrong. There was nothing going on between Jane and her best friend because there couldn't be. If there was one thing Jane was positive about regarding herself and the Universe, it was that the Universe never allowed her to have a happy ending and being with Maura would be a happy ending. Therefore, it couldn't happen, and Jane had convinced herself she needed to focus on what little victories her unhappy endings gave her.


	2. Chapter 2

The immediate thought to run through Jane's mind was, _'Oh cruel Universe, why are you dangling a doughnut in front of the very hungry cop?'_, and the thought made her smirk until the words Maura had said fully registered and her smirk turned into something a bit more mischievous than what was really appropriate for the situation. "Doctor Isles," her eyes danced with the inappropriate mirth she was trying to hold back, "Are you making assumptions?"

The unexpected reaction caught Maura off guard, and she immediately fell back into her usual, familiar pattern of conversation whenever Jane accused her of taking a guess. "No, of course not. Based on the evidence that has been presented before me and the observations I've made over the course of our time together, there is enough empirical data to suggest that, on a theoretical level, you do not hold romantic feelings toward me."

"Is that so?" Giddy. Jane was giddy on the inside. The woman she had been trying for months to keep out of her dreams and her waking thoughts as being anything more than her best friend had just said she shared the same depth of emotions for her as she did for the doctor. "I could say the same for you. Based on the number of guys you've dated and how many times you tried to push some random guy off into _my _bed, it doesn't really look like you have those kinds of feelings for me, either. If you can hide your feelings, what makes you think I can't hide mine?"

"Well, I… But, you've always said you're not interested in dating wom… No," Maura stopped herself. Her eyes slowly blinked as her mind raced over all their conversations about dating she could recall. She shook her head in the negative, repeating herself. "No, you've never said that. Jane," her gaze ran back to the detective's, "_would _you seriously consider dating a woman?"

The mischievous smirk turned into a knowing smile. "It depends on who the woman was."

The doctor's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Me, Jane. _Would _you seriously consider dating me?"

"Maura," this time, the smile turned into a dimpled grin, "we've been platonically dating for about four and half years. I figure, if we keep going, we'll be platonically married by the end of next year some time."

The hand holding the soggy tissue batted at Jane's shoulder but the mood was suddenly and thankfully lighter. "Jane, I'm being serious!"

Giving a mock face of pain, Jane rubbed at her shoulder. "So am I!" She dropped her act and her expression sobered. "Look, Maura, I… Yes." The word left her mouth sounding more like a sigh of relief than an actual response. "Yes, I would seriously consider dating you. In fact, I'd do more than that if you're serious about this, too."

Hazel eyes began to sparkle. "Such as?"

"Oh, I don't know," the detective gave a too nonchalant shrug. "Maybe ask you out on a date and then suggest we take some time to see if we get caught by Ma making out on the couch because, and I'm being completely serious here," she held her hands up as if that added to the fact she was being honest, "Ma _always_ walks in on me and the guy… the _person _I'm dating making out on the couch within the first three days of the two of me and the other person deciding to give dating each other a try. It's like she has radar for it or something."

An honest chuckle bubbled up from the honey brunette's throat. "I actually believe that."

"Which part?"

"All of it." They both laughed, relief flooding them, and the tension in the room dissipating. "I _am _serious, Jane." Maura's face was the picture of relief and hope. "But you don't have to take me out on a date. If we go by what you're suggesting, we could consider ourselves ahead of the curve regarding dates."

"You saying you wouldn't be opposed to skipping ahead a few pages in the book of dating?" Jane could not, despite her best efforts, wipe the now goofy grin from her face.

The grin was returned in kind, and, much to her bemusement, Maura was blushing slightly. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Throwing a hand to her chest in an over exaggerated motion and widening her eyes, Jane's voice took on a mock tone of shock. "Maura! I can't believe how forward you're being. Suggesting such things so early in the relationship!"

Maura shrugged, eyes going wide to feign innocence. "Or, perhaps, we're getting a late start? Look at all the dates you've taken me on, and you've never _once _so much as kissed me goodbye or goodnight!"

Jane pretended to consider this grievance for a moment before replying with absolute seriousness in her voice. "If we do this, there's no going back."

"I know," came the quiet but assured reply. "I'm fine with that, but do you feel you'd be?"

This time, Jane honestly considered the other woman's words. "Yeah," she nodded slowly, holding the eye contact between them to make sure Maura could see the certainty in her eyes. "Tell me your bedroom door locks."

"I could tell you that, but it'd be a lie." Moving in a fluid motion to stand up, Maura pulled Jane's hand to get her to stand up as well. "I'd rather not have hives tonight, if it's all the same to you."

Jane followed, grimacing as they did their usual house check before bed. "Fine, but you know what's going to happen tomorrow."

The smaller woman shrugged. "It may not."

"Maura," the detective's voice sounded exasperated, "let's not pretend the Universe likes me enough to prevent the episode from happening where Ma walks in on us. It's too good to pass up."

Giving a disapproving click of her tongue, Maura replied in a slightly annoyed tone, "You make it sound as though we're living inside a television show, Jane."

"That's because I'm half convinced we do," came the weary reply as they walked into the master bedroom and closed the door behind them.

"Well," Maura cocked her head to the side like she normally did when she was considering a line of thought as she wrapped her hands behind Jane's neck to pull the taller woman down toward her, "If we _are _in a television show, let's hope it's on Showtime or Cinemax. Otherwise, someone is about to have to pay several heavy fees to the FCC for _many_ violations." She gave a devilish smile as she watched Jane's features darken before planting a passionate kiss on the waiting lips of the detective.


	3. Chapter 3

"Maura?" Angela's voice rang out through the quiet morning.

"Yup," Jane stirred first. Rolling from her stomach onto her back before trying to untangle the covers from the currently knotted situation between the two women. "Get up, Maura. She'll be in here any second now. Do you really want her to see you in all your nude glory?"

The doctor let out a groan but pushed herself into a sitting position to help resituate the covers to preserve their modesty. "I really would not have believed this if I hadn't been here to witness it firsthand." She glanced at her bedside alarm clock. "It's 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday. Why is she even up right now? She typically sleeps in on Saturday morning."

"Maura?" There was a knock on the bedroom door. "Are you in there? I've been trying to call Jane all morning, but she's not answering her cell, and, when I stepped out to get in my car, I saw her car here, but Jane's not in the guest room, and…"

"Oh god," Jane groaned. "I think my cell is somewhere in the pile at the foot of the bed. I bet it's dead." She rolled her eyes as she scooted down to get comfortable, throwing her arm out to invite the other woman to use it as a pillow.

Maura did so, lying on her back with her head on Jane's shoulder. She groaned again as she doubled checked the covers to ensure everything that should be covered was. "We could get dressed and then answer the door."

"Nope." A yawn escaped the detective. "We have another three seconds if we're lucky before she…"

"Maura? Hello? Are you even in," the bedroom door opened and Angela stepped in, her eyes sweeping around the large master bedroom. As they fell on the bed, her voice squeaked out to finish the sentence, "here?"

"Morning, Ma." Jane gave a heavy sigh.

"Hello, Angela," Maura mumbled, face furiously blushing.

"What's going on here?" The elder Rizzoli's face was a mixture of confusion and anger. "Jane what are you doing in Maura's bed, and are you two _naked_?"

"Well, this'll be a coming out story that'll probably go viral after I tweet about it," Jane grumbled under her breath, and she had to keep herself from grinning when she felt Maura stifle a chuckle. Clearing her throat, she answered her mother with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances. "We were sleeping until you started knocking, and, yes, we're nude under here, so don't pull the cover off of me unless you want a show."

Ignoring the sarcasm, Angela walked to the side of the bed Jane occupied. Crossing her arms, she stared down at her daughter. "Just how long has this been going on?"

"Really? We're going to have this conversation right now? Could you at least let me put a shirt and a pair of pants on or something?" Though outwardly annoyed, internally the dark haired brunette was relieved. If her mother was talking to her, it meant she wasn't too angry to disown her. At least, she hoped that's what her mother's reaction meant. "I mean, you have to admit this a little awkward, Ma."

"I want to know." Angela pressed, not really looking anywhere but her daughter's eyes. "How long?"

"Okay, fine, we'll do this while Maura and I are nude and in bed together." Jane sighed and glanced at the clock. "Roughly sixteen hours. Congratulations, Ma, I think you've hit a new record of how quickly you can walk in on me and whoever it is I'm dating doing something I'd rather you never see me doing." _'Yeah, Universe,'_ came Jane's internal monologue, _'you suck so much right now. I hate you. I really hate you.'_

Angela slowly shook her head in the negative. "I don't believe it."

"Yeah, well, neither do I. I figured I at least had a week before your radar kicked in," came her daughter's extremely annoyed response.

"No," the older woman rolled her eyes. "I don't believe this just happened. You two have been dating for at least a couple of months now. Come on, you can be honest with me."

"Oh my go… Seriously? I mean… _really?_" Had it not been for the fact there wasn't a stitch of clothing on her, Jane would have jumped out of bed to tower over her mother for emphasis. "I am telling you the truth, Ma. Maura and I just decided last night to give this a try, and… and…" She faltered, unable to decide which way to go next. On one hand, she wanted to continue to argue about how long she and Maura had officially been a couple. On the other hand, she wanted to ask her mother how okay she was with the fact she and Maura _were _a couple.

"Angela, I'm sorry to interrupt. Well," Maura scrunched her face up for a split second, "No, I'm actually _not _sorry to interrupt, but, in either case, I need to use the facilities, and I'm sure Jane does as well. Could we forgo the usual banter the two of you have and cut to the main talking points here? Which would be," the honey brunette shifted slightly, "Are you okay with this new development between me and your daughter? Can you allow us time to work this new part of our relationship out between us before you tell anyone else? Will you, going forward, grant us the privacy we clearly should have? Quick answers would be very much appreciated."

Jane nodded. "What she said, and, _can_ we make this quick. I have to pee like a race horse now that I'm awake."

"Jane, crude!" Maura rolled her eyes.

"What? It's true," came the quick but playful response.

"Fine." Angela uncrossed her arms and glanced between the two younger women. "Yes, I'm fine with it. I assumed you two were dating way before now. If I wasn't fine with it, I'd have kept trying to set Jane up on blind dates. I stopped after Casey because I thought you two had something going on and just weren't ready to tell me yet. Yes, I can wait. Contrary to what Jane might think, I can keep my mouth shut. Your secret is safe with me, and, yes, I'll wait for an answer the next time I knock." She cocked an eyebrow. "How's that for short?"

Her daughter gave an amused snort. "Works for me."

"Yes, thank you, Angela," Maura gave a small smile. "And, though I'm appreciative of your answers, truly I am, I really must insist you step out of my bedroom now, please."

Giving one last look to her daughter, Angela turned on her heels and walked out of the room, soundly shutting the door behind her.

"That went well," Jane commented as she watched the doctor spring from the bed and head to the bathroom.

"We'll talk about it in about ten minutes," Maura called out before slamming the bathroom door shut.

"Oh man," the detective groaned to herself, "somewhere out there in the Universe there's a group of people laughing about this. I just _know _it."


	4. Chapter 4

"You should at least tell Tommy and Frankie about this," Angela motioned between the two younger women as they walked into the kitchen.

"You know, this habit you have of starting a conversation in middle? I don't like it." Jane grunted as she plopped down on the stool at the island to keep out of the way of her mother and Maura. "And _why _should I tell them? Didn't we just have an," she glanced to the doctor, whose face was absolutely neutral as she started making coffee, "abbreviated version of a conversation where we all agreed that you'd let us decide when, where, how, and _who _to tell?"

"Abbreviated?" Angela's face flashed to a moment of amusement. "Maura's rubbing off on you, Janie." She chuckled at the horrified look on her daughter's face and ignored the chuckle from the area of the coffee maker. "I know what I said, but you and I both know how Tommy feels about Maura, and Frankie, too. You need to think about your brothers and not be selfish about this."

"Selfish? What does _that_ mean?" Jane glared at her mother, eyes narrowing. "Tommy and Frankie don't have anything to do with my personal life, Ma."

"No, but they have a lot to do with Maura, and it's only fair to be straight with them," Angela calmly countered. As she took the offered cup of coffee from Maura's hand, she began to chuckle. "Straight," she mumbled to herself and then snorted. The snort became a chuckle which turned into a laugh as the other two watched her with matching confused looks. "Sorry, I got a little tickled."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Worst. Joke. Ever, Ma."

"I believe I'm missing something here," Maura stepped around the island to take a seat next to Jane and placed one mug in front of the dark haired brunette while keeping the other one tightly gripped in her right hand. "Did someone make a joke?"

"No," Jane rolled her eyes. "Ma made a very bad pun, and," she turned to her mother, "I'll have you know that it's entirely possible that I could just be gay for Maura, or, you know, bisexual or pansexual or something, so your pun could be completely wrong."

"Pansexual? You _really _have been hanging around Maura too much, Janie," her mother teased. "You can give me that glare all day long. I'm your mother. It doesn't work on me." Angela settled on a stool opposite the young women before she continued. "I know you two would probably rather not confirm the rumors considering how new this all is, but Tommy's been trying to date Maura for months now. Don't you think it'd be better to avoid all the mess waiting to tell him is going to cause?"

The detective stared down into her coffee. "No."

"Jane," Maura's voice was soft but stern. "She's right. It's only fair to Tommy. Despite my protests, he's been persistent in his advances. I really think it'd be best for everyone involved to at least tell our families. We're too close to each other to be able to keep this a secret from them for long, and, as I said, I think Angela is correct. There is potential for a great deal of drama if we're not careful in how we handle this," the smaller woman's face faltered from it's mask of surety. "_If_ you're still certain this is what you want, of course. Otherwise, there's no reason to have this conversation."

Jane's eyes finally traveled from her coffee to the woman beside her. "Don't do that. Don't start doubting me now. I meant what I said. No going back. Remember?"

"Yes, I do," with a tilt of her head, Maura positioned herself to prevent Angela from seeing her face, "but I know that sometimes, in the heat of the moment..."

"Stop." One sinewy hand reached out to cover the white knuckled grip Maura had on her coffee mug. "Look at me. Read my micro facial expressions or whatever it is you do and listen to what I'm telling you because what I'm telling you is the absolute truth." Dark brown eyes narrowed, determination and honesty written across her features. "I am positive this is what I want to do. We're doing this as long as you'll have me. I'm not leaving you, Maura. You should know by now that I'd break any law and go through any person to protect you, to keep you safe, and to have you with me." She gave a small reassuring smile. "I've been committed to you for a long time. I'm _not _going back, okay?"

"Oh, that is... that's just so sweet!" Angela's voice broke the two out of the bubble they had been in. "Jane, when did you get so romantic? You must have gotten that from your cousin, Oscar. He was always so good with words." She wiped at her eyes. "You two are just so cute together."

"Way to ruin a moment, Ma," Jane grumbled. Catching Maura's eyes again, she asked, "Okay?"

Maura's smile was gentle but her eyes beamed. "Okay. Does this mean you'd be comfortable with telling our friends and family? It's not too fast for you?"

"Oh, it's too fast," the detective said with a slight timbre of annoyance in her voice as she turned back to her coffee. "But you're both right. We really should tell my brothers, and, if we tell Frankie, it means we have to tell Frost because Frost would be pissed off at me that he wasn't in on it. If we tell Frost, then we have to tell Korsak because Korsak would be pissed to be the last one to know."

She snorted. "If the two gossiping old ladies in the office know plus the one old gossiping lady who works in the cafe," she glanced at her mother, who gave her a hard look, "then it's only a matter of time before the entire precinct knows, which means it's just a matter of time befor the whole Boston PD knows. And, if all BPD knows about us, then," she gave a heavy sigh, "the press is going to pick up on it, too."

Draining her coffee quickly, she let the mug hit the counter with a thud, ignoring the disapproving look on Maura's face. "The press already follow us around when we're on a case together. They've been profiling what you wear to crime scenes for years now, Maura, and they're always wondering about 'the hero cop's personal life', so we're going to be the poster children for their special interest stories. How can you pass up a story about the socialite, top-in-her-field Chief Medical Examiner for the Common Wealth of Massachusetts dating the blue collar, highly decorated, top-in-her-field hero cop? It's like Ma said, we look good together, we're the same sex (which means there's at least one or two equal rights stories to be made there), and we're already well-known in Boston thanks to the press's coverage of us over the years." She groaned. "Our lives are about to be hell on wheels." She stood to make another cup of coffee. "We'd better tell Cavanaugh, too."

"Jane, don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?" Angela took the mug from her daughter's hand and motioned her to sit down again.

"She may not be, Angela," Maura offered. "Jane _is _correct about who we should tell and why, and she's also correct about the potential news coverage. The press has been very quick to obtain and publish any information they can regarding our personal lives since it was revealed that Paddy Doyle is my biological father." The doctor frowned deeply. "It will be trying for a while."

"Yeah, outside the house, it's going to suck until everything settles back down," Jane gratefully took the second cup of coffee. "Hey, Maura, is there anything in the handbook that says we can't work together if we're dating each other? Because, if there is, we might have to lie. I _cannot_ work with Pike. He's an ass, and he's awful at his job. I don't know how he hasn't been fired yet."

"I don't have enough empirical evidence to do it yet," Maura mumbled from behind her coffee mug before taking a thoughtful sip. "No, there's nothing in the handbook that would prevent us from working together while being in a relationship, but I'm sure we'll need to make certain we continue to follow the strict guidelines of rules and regulations to prevent defense attorneys from using our relationship to bring down a case."

"Like you would let me break a rule? Please!" Jane rolled her eyes, but there was evident relief on her face. "Okay, so what we're saying here is that we need to tell everyone. I guess it's time for a family dinner."

"I know just what to cook!" Angela smiled brightly. "There's a dish I've been saving for a special occasion that I've been dying to try out. It's a lemon herb chicken recipe. I'll go to the store and buy everything. Jane, you call the boys and tell them to be here tonight for dinner." As she stood to grab her purse, she said as an afterthought, "I'll call Vince."

"Vince?" Her daughter's eyebrows went up. "Since when did you get on a first name basis with my ex-partner?"

"He's a nice man, Jane." Her mother bent to kiss each woman on the cheek. "I'll be back in a few hours. Text me after you've called everyone so I know. Love you both!" With the click of the front door, Angela was gone to leave the two women sitting in stunned silence.

It was Jane who finally broke it. In a quiet, stunned voice she asked, "What just happened here?"

"I believe your mother is orchestrating a 'coming out' dinner for us for tonight, and she's instructed us to invite everyone to it," Maura answered in an equally stunned voice.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Fantastic." _'Dear Universe, you can stop making my life annoyingly hard now. I mean it. I think you've reached your quota for at least the rest of the month.' _With a heavy sigh, she pulled out her phone. "I'll call Tommy and Frost if you'll call Frankie."

"While I'm at it, I'll also call Rosa to come by and do a quick cleaning." Glancing around, the doctor's shoulders slumped ever so slightly. "This is not the way I pictured us coming out to our friends and family."

"Oh yeah? How did you picture that?" Jane propped her elbow on the island and rested her chin in her hand.

"I had hoped it would be after we'd dated for a while and were more secure in this new aspect of our relationship. This all seems to have gotten out of hand rather quickly," came the flustered reply.

"That's what happens when you're brought into the Rizzoli clan, Maura."

The doctor shook her head in confusion. "Things get out of hand quickly?"

Jane smirked. "Nope. Chaos."


	5. Chapter 5

"Dinner was great, Ma," Frankie said with a satisfied grin. "So, you going to tell us what the special occasion is or what?"

"Yeah," Tommy threw in while he cleaned the table. "Janie said it was something you thought we should know. Well, what is it already?"

"Don't call me Janie," his sister yelled from her post at the sink. She washed, and Maura dried while Angela put the dishes away.

"Be nice to your brothers," the matriarch automatically chastised. "Besides, _I'm _not the one who needs to talk." She dried her hands after putting away the last dish. "It's Jane and Maura that need to talk to you boys."

Frost's eyebrows rose. "Oh yeah? What's so important that you couldn't tell us at work?" He glanced to Angela. Seeing her disapproving look, he quickly added, "Not that I would ever turn down a homemade meal. It was great, Angela. Thank you."

"Of course, Barry!" The older woman's face quickly turned bright, and she beamed as she made her way back to the living room to join him and Korsak. "You know I always enjoy cooking for a crowd."

Korsak nodded, giving his most notably sincere smile. "Best meal I've had in a long time, maybe since the last time you cooked one for me." He winked at her.

"Stop flirting with my mother," Jane snapped. She appeared behind the sofa where Frost and Angela were taking up residence. Pointing at her ex-partner and narrowing eyes, she threatened, "Things are weird enough right now without you two adding to it."

Tommy gave her a push on his way to take a seat on the hearth to play with Jo. "Ah, come on, Janie, let them have a little fun."

"Hey! What did I _just _say? _Do not _call me Janie!" She made a reach for her youngest brother, but he ducked away just in time.

"Behave!" Angela shot Korsak an apologetic look before turning her gaze fully on the two young women standing behind the sofa. "Don't you two have something to say?"

Jane wrapped her arms around herself and glanced around the room, not making eye contact with anyone. "No."

"I would actually prefer not to, given a real choice in the matter," Maura answered directly, voice even but eyes harsh.

Angela rolled her eyes. "Girls, we've already talked about this." She turned to do a quick head count, yelled at Frankie to join his brother, and, once everyone was settled, returned to her reminders. "I thought we all agreed that it's better to let everyone know now."

"I don't know how much _agreeing_ there was," Jane said with a sigh.

"I cannot disagree with that implication," Maura nodded, one side of her mouth quirking down into a small frown.

Frankie groaned. "Well, spit it out already. You know Ma's just going to keep us all here until you two say whatever it is she wants you to say."

"Yeah," Tommy nodded, "and I want to get out of here before midnight. I got to go to work tomorrow."

"Okay, alright, fine," Jane glanced to Maura, who gave her a nod to go ahead. "There's not really a great way to say this, so I'm just going to put this out there, and we'll deal." She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Eyes fully locked on the coffee table, she finally revealed her almost secret. "Maura and I are dating each other."

Korsak's eyebrows went up, jaw going slack in surprise. He glanced to Angela, who only smiled and nodded.

Frost smirked, eyes shining with amusement. "Can't say I didn't see _that _coming."

"For real?" Frankie's eyes narrowed. "Each other?" He made a motion with his hand, moving it to point back and forth between the women. "You mean like dating _dating_? With, like, actual dates and holding hands and kissing and… stuff?"

Despite the situation, Maura couldn't help but smirk at Frankie's question and how uncomfortable he was. Under other circumstances, it might have been considered cute. "Yes, Frankie. That is exactly what she means. Jane and I are involved in a romantic relationship."

"Well," he scrunched his face up, "Huh… what about… what about what's-his-face, Jane? Um… Casey?"

"I haven't told him yet, but he's next on the list." She shrugged. "I'll just have to let him down easy, I guess."

The honey brunette let out a judgmental sound from the back of her neck. "Easily."

The detective shot an annoyed glance over to her side. "Not the time, Maura." The doctor had enough grace to look somewhat embarrassed at her unwelcomed correction during such a tense social moment.

"How long?" Tommy's voice was so soft Jane almost missed it.

"I… you mean how long have Maura and I been dating?" She flinched. _'Oh, right, thank you again Universe. He'll never believe that I wasn't trying to take her from him. This is about to suck.'_

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean." Her younger brother stood up, pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Despite the potential for anger, there was none as he asked again, "How long?"

"Not long, Tommy." Jane's voice was apologetic. "I mean," she glanced from the doctor down to her mother and back again. _'I'm probably about to regret this.' _ Taking in another deep breath, she admitted, "If it makes you feel any better, Ma walked in on us after our first, um, our… uh," the blush was rising quickly. "After our first night together. She came in that morning."

Frankie grinned. "Really?"

Frost winced on behalf of his partner. "Yeah, _that's _not awkward."

Korsak opened his mouth to say something, looked to the Rizzoli matriarch, and quickly shut his mouth again.

"No, that don't make me feel better." Tommy's frown deepened, and he turned a hurt and disappointed gaze to Maura. "You could have just told me you had a thing for my sister."

"Tommy, I," Maura's face held the apology she couldn't quite find words for. She swallowed down the lump and tried again. "I'm so sorry, but I've always been upfront with you. You know I've always told you I was flattered but not interested."

"Yeah, I know, but I kind of figured it was because Jane wasn't sure about me yet, and not because you wanted to be with her." He nodded his head toward his sister.

Maura's frown deepened. "Had I dated you, Tommy," her voice was quiet, as if she were trying to take the edge off of her words, "I would have been dating the wrong Rizzoli."

"Well, you don't have the problem now," he said as he walked toward the front door.

"Tommy!" Jane made a move to go after him. "Wait!"

"No," he held a hand up to stop her. "I just… no, Jane. Just give me a little time, okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded, eyes watery, "Sure."

As the front door closed, the room fell into a heavy silence. It was Korsak that finally broke it. "You know," he said as he stood up, "I don't have a problem with it."

"Yeah, me either," Frost said, following the sergeant's lead. "I mean, I'm totally cool with it. Like I said, it's not like I _didn't _see that coming."

"Well, _I _didn't see it coming, but," Frankie stood along with the rest of the men, "I guess it's okay. I mean, Maura, finally got Janie to stop wearing that really ugly purple shirt, so this whole thing can't be _all _bad." He grinned.

"Oh, funny," his sister rolled her eyes, but the relief on her face spoke volumes. "I had that shirt since I was in high school."

Frost pursed his lips in mock consideration. "You talking about the one with the coffee stain on bottom?"

"Yeah," Frankie nodded, "that's the one."

Frost's face went from mock consideration to mock realization. "Oh, yeah, that thing should have _stayed_ in the 80s. Maura should get some kind of award for making you get rid of that thing, Jane."

Jane huffed at them. "You both suck."

"I don't, but Frankie might," her partner said with a grin, which quickly turned nervous. "Sorry, I mean…"

"Don't do that," she cut in, not letting him get the apology out. "Don't change how you are because you think it might offend me or Maura. We're not any different than we were yesterday, and you _know _that if you piss me off or hurt Maura's feelings, I'll let you know about it." She gave a very weak smile. "It's _okay _to joke around. I know you're not homophic, Frost. You just like to play with dolls."

"_Action _figure," he threw back.

"_My _action figure," Frankie added to help lighten the mood again.

"Whatever they are, they're a bunch of kids' toys anyway," Korsak shook his head. "Anyway, it's getting late, and we all have to work tomorrow. I'm happy for you two if you're happy. We'll deal with the drama at work when it comes."

"Thank you, Vince," Maura gave a hint of a smile.

"Let me walk you out," Angela offered, springing from the sofa and grabbing his arm to lead him away from the group and out of the house.

Frost watched them leave. "How long before they start dating?"

"Please stop." Jane threw him a death glare. "I cannot handle my mother dating my ex-partner right now. It's just too weird. One big, life changing thing at a time, okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He looked at Frankie. "Ready?"

Frankie nodded. "Yeah, if we leave now, we'll make it in time to see the second half."

With their goodbyes said, the last two men left the house thus leaving Jane and Maura alone and still standing behind the sofa.

Jane walked around and plopped down on the piece of furniture. "That went better than I thought it would." _'Universe, you surprised me. I would thank you, but this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't told Ma to walk in on us this morning. You still suck.'_

Maura followed, seating herself closely next to the dark haired detective. "It could have gone much worse, yes." She glanced over, eyes asking permission. Leaning back, Jane lifted her arm. Maura smiled and took the silent invitation, scooting back into Jane's embrace. "Do you think things will be more trying at the precinct?"

"Yeah," the deep timbre of Jane's voice vibrated through the doctor, who gave a little shiver. "But I'm with Korsak. We'll work it out."

The doctor gave a noncommittal hum in response. "Will you be going home tonight?"

"Do you want me to?"

"No."

"Okay, then."


	6. Chapter 6

'_Yeah, I know you're watching me eat this, and I don't a shit.'_ Jane looked down at the ice cream cone in her hand and smiled. It was the only highlight in an otherwise boring and highly annoying stakeout.

The case had brought them to an ice cream parlor in one of the ritzier areas of Boston, and Jane had been volunteered by the team to go undercover as a customer to sit inside the store while the rest of the team took stations as staff or sat in a van outside. They were waiting for their suspect to make his appearance. It was slow going, so Jane had bought an ice cream cone to look less conspicuous and to kill some time.

Sitting in the far back corner, it was easy to stay out of people's line of sight, but the other detectives working the case had a perfect view of her via the cameras they had earlier set up, and the ear piece transmitting their comments while they waited in the van came in loud and clear to her as she spun the cone in her hand, letting the ice cream swirl over her tongue before she swallowed the creamy, white dessert.

"The way you use that tongue of yours, Rizzoli, I bet Maura is a happy woman." Crowe's voice crackled through the ear piece.

It had been six months since she and Maura had come out to everyone, and, in that time, her hellfire and brimstone predictions about their privacy, or lack thereof, had come true. They were the talk of the precinct, the talk of the Metro section of the paper whenever a story broke about one of their cases, and the talk of Boston's elite as they discusses if an Isles should have lowered herself to date a blue collar worker like Jane.

'_Everyone's always watching me. I hate this crap. When this is over, I want a vacation. Someplace that's not the thirteen original colonies.' _ She ran her tongue over and around the mound of ice cream sitting atop her cone.

"I bet she's a screamer. I bet she cusses like a sailor in bed. Doesn't she, Rizzoli?" She was stuck with Crowe at the control panel because Frost was out sick and Korsak was working as a busboy. Since 'the big reveal', Crowe's level of snark, sexual harassment, and inappropriate comments had exploded. It was a fine line Jane walked. On one hand, she could turn him in to HR and have him written up. But, on the other hand, if she took that option, the rest of the cops would consider her a stool pigeon and weak, thus confirming what they'd always said about why a woman shouldn't be a cop.

'_Maura would say something like, 'Jane, the reason a Human Resources Department exists is to handle situations such as this. There is a reason such systems are in place, and it seems odd that those who enforce the very rules that are being broken would not use the systems they help to put in force for their own personal protection.'_

Maura hadn't wanted her to cause a scene or get herself written up, and Jane knew HR wasn't really an option, so, for the past six months, Jane had simply taken his constant string of abuse when Maura wasn't in ear shot. For whatever reason, he was never that way when Maura was around.

Her fellow cops had offered to step in and put Crowe in his place, but Jane had declined their offers for the same reason Maura hadn't wanted Jane to do it herself. Crowe wasn't worth a person's career.

The ice cream level had finally become level with the top of the cone, and Jane dipped her tongue down to scoop the ice cream out, slowly turning the cone while keeping her tongue outstretched to pull as much ice cream as she could in. She swallowed, slowly licking her lips as her eyes darted around the room.

They met the deep blue eyes of a tall, dark and handsome guy standing in line who was waiting for his turn. He gave his best dashing smile. She gave a little smack of her lips, raising an eyebrow in surprise. _'Right. Woman all alone eating an ice cream cone is probably going to gain a little attention. Good going, Rizzoli, you made yourself noticeable because you like to lick things.'_

She chuckled at her internal joke even as she shook her head politely no and held up her left hand to reveal the ring she wore there whenever she did these kinds of stakeouts. He made a disappointed face, gave her another smile, and turned back to the counter.

"Looks like you and Maura could have had some fun with him, Rizzoli. You two seem like the adventurous types. How many threesomes have you had since you two started hooking up?" Crowe's voice sounded like his sleazy smirk was firmly on his face, and Jane could see Korsak visibly shaking with irritation as he moved from table to table to wipe them down as he tried not to go out and take care of Crowe for her.

She bit down, chomping through the thin, sweet, crispy cone quickly to finish it off.

'_I can hear Maura giving me the history of the ice cream cone. Something about it starting as a really thin waffle at the Chicago's World's Fair. I don't know. I was only sort of paying attention. I think I just like to hear her talk. Maybe I'll ask her to tell me the story again? That would really make her happy. She loves that crap. Oh, shit, there he is.'_

She glanced to Korsak, catching his eye, and then to a sandy haired young man who had just entered.

"Awww, fun's over so soon?" Crowe sounded genuinely disappointed.

Jane moved to stand behind the young man who had walked up to the line. She leaned over, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hello, Jason, we need to talk."

The teen's body tensed. He whispered just loud enough for her to hear him. "Please don't kill me. I swear I haven't spoken to the cops."

Her grip tightened. "You haven't spoken to the cops _yet_," she whispered in reply as she pulled him from the line and they casually walked out of the establishment. "But you're about to." Crowe stepped out of the van to flank the boy as Jane pulled her badge out of her jeans' pocket. "Jason Todd, you're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…"


	7. Chapter 7

"Detective Rizzoli, what can you tell us about the Todd case?" The random bursts of flashing light combined with the loud, obnoxious questions being hurled at her by reporters as she, Frost, and Maura made their way down the courthouse steps only added to her burning anger and irritation.

'_They're just doing their job, Jane.'_ Jane rolled her eyes at Maura's words replaying in her heard. _'Can you imagine how individuals feel when you've gone to their homes or places of business to press for answers to questions regarding cases?' _ The detective sighed, gritted her teeth, and let Frost give the answer none of loud mass wanted to hear.

"No comment," the younger detective shouted out above the crowd. He and Jane held their arms out and around Maura to keep the crowd from pressing in.

It had been Doctor Isles's incredible discovery of a small needle mark at the spine of the victim that had ultimately cracked the case, and her forensic work and medical examination of the body of Harold Todd had pointed the finger sternly away from his son, Jason, and toward his second ex-wife, Jason's stepmother.

The case had brought a storm of media attention for both the people directly involved and for the people investigating.

The Todd family was a well-known entity in Boston and the surrounding area. They owned several trucks in an interstate shipping line that ran from Massachusetts to New York, and most people driving the streets between Boston and New York City could tell you what the Todd family had as the logo for their shipping services.

The investigators were of interest for an entirely different reason.

"Doctor Isles! Candy Bowman for the Boston Daily Fashion. What are you wearing today?"

'_Really? A boy's father is murdered, and this is what they want to know from the Chief Medical Examiner for the Common Wealth of Massachusetts? I don't care what Maura says. Reporters disgust me. Vultures.' _ With another hard roll of her eyes and a quick look to Frost, Jane nodded toward the waiting unmarked car. Korsak made eye contact from where he sat behind the wheel and nodded. It was about to take twice as long to make it the sanctuary of the vehicle.

"I really don't think that's pertinent to this case or the tragedy of the situation in question," Maura responded with a cool, assured voice as the entire throng pushed forward.

"Detective Rizzoli! Candy Bowman for the…"

"Yeah, I know who you are, Candy," Jane snapped before she could stop herself. _'Crap.' _ Maura threw the taller woman her best "now, Jane, you know better" look. Frost just groaned.

Candy Bowman beamed as if she'd won something wonderful. "Great! I'm glad to hear that, Detective. I see you're wearing Armani today. Was that your choice, or has Doctor Isles begun to fill out your closet? We at the Daily Fashion can't help but notice that, since you and Doctor Isles have been dating, your wardrobe has taken a sharp turn for the better."

'_How the hell did this go from a boy's father being killed to what I'm wearing and who I'm dating? This is ridiculous.' _

"Detective Rizzoli! Doctor Isles!" The crowd surged, refreshed by the reminder that more than one story might be found here.

"Tim Connelly for the Boston Commoner. Is it true you two have been dating for a year? How are you preventing conflict of interests between your personal life and your work life? Are there any plans for marriage in your future?"

'_And now they've turned into my mother. Fan-freaking-tastic.'_ Jane lunged forward to grab Maura by the arm to prevent her from falling as a few reporters stepped too close and pushed the petite woman off balance. "Hey!" _'This is enough.' _

"No, Jane, don't," Frost's warning fell on deaf ears as they finally made it to the car and Jane turned to the pulsing throng of reporters forming a crescent around them.

Her angry eyes blackened as she ran them over the crowd who, in a shared moment of self-preservation, stopped yelling and screaming random questions at their intended targets.

"Okay, look," Jane's voice was harsh but controlled. "I realize you guys seem to think my and Doctor Isles's personal life is fascinating, and I still don't understand why anyone finds it interesting what a detective or medical examiner wears on the job, but you guys… I mean, really?" She pointed toward the courthouse. "There's a young boy in there that will never see his father again, and he was nearly framed for his dad's murder. He _would _have been framed if not for Doctor Isles's incredible work on this case. That boy in there will _never _get to have all the things most of you had growing up because now _both_ of his parents are gone, and for what? For money? There are things in this world far more important than the fact that Maura and I are a couple, like what happens to that boy. He's an orphan now. He doesn't have a family. Who is reporting on that? Huh? Who is reporting on the thousands of children out there without a home or a family tonight? Who is reporting on the victims and their families that have suffered because of the violence of people like…"

Maura's hand gently touched Jane's shoulder, and she whispered, "Jane, please, let's go home."

The detective's head twisted quickly toward the sound of the other woman's voice and then back to the crowd before them. "You want a quote? Well, you got one. My quote is this," Her eyes narrowed and voice lowered a notch or two, "Jason Todd is a good boy who needs the love, help, and support of friends and his community in this very difficult time for him. I hope everyone steps up to do so. Doctor Isles is wearing Givenchy today because that's my favorite designer on her. I'm wearing whatever suit I found in my closet that Doctor Isles hasn't given away, which means it might be an Armani because she tends to replace as she purges. Issues with conflict of interest have been addressed, and you may speak to the Boston PD about it. _Do not _ask me about marriage. You're not my mother. There? That cover it? Great. Let's go."

With those parting words, the group piled into the car, Frost riding shotgun and the women in the back as a tidal wave of screaming questions were shut out with the click of car doors and roar of the engine.


	8. Chapter 8

"Man, everyone and their dog is on us about… us. Why can't it be like it used to be?" Jane plopped down on the sofa in Maura's living room, careful not to spill her beer. "You know, when they asked us questions about the cases that we didn't know anything about? And Candy can _eat it_. I'm so tired of her constantly on us about our personal lives. It's been, what? four months since she started in?"

"Yes, four months. It was the Todd trial, I believe, when she first started asking about _your _clothing designers as well as mine." Maura gave a little, tired sigh. "They're just doing their jobs," the doctor scolded lightly as she settled next to the detective. "But, of course, we've had this conversation before." She took a small sip of her tea. "Are you staying here tonight or going back to your apartment?"

Jane gave a heavy sigh. "I don't know. I mean, I should probably go back to my place. I'm out of clean clothes, and I'm pretty sure my houseplant is on the brink of death." She reached down to scratch behind Jo's ear. "Besides, I'm starting to get the feeling that Jo misses her doggie bed."

"I see." Maura carefully set her tea down on the coffee table and turned to face the other woman. "Do _you _miss your own bed?"

Without a second thought, Jane shook her head. "No." Panic on her face, her head shot up to look at the bemused honey brunette. "I mean, it's my bed, so, of course I… it's that Jo's been sleeping on that hard little pillow, and she really likes _her _bed. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like _my _bed, too, but yours is…"

"Perhaps you should bring Jo's bed here?" Maura's voice was smooth and calm with just a hint of amusement.

Jane shook her head. "But what would she sleep on when we were at my place?"

"I could make the argument that you and Jo rarely spend a night at your apartment, but I think it's unnecessary since I know you already know that. So, how about I make a different argument instead?" With a bounce, Maura was up and walking to her desk. As Jane watched, the small woman opened a drawer, pulled out a key ring, and returned to her spot on the sofa. "This," she held up the key ring, which Jane could now see had a small remote hanging from it, "is the second remote to my dual car garage."

"I always wondered where that thing way." Tilting her head, the dark haired brunette gave a small smile. "But what about it?"

"I think you should take it, go to your apartment tonight, gather more of your clothes and Jo's bed, return, and park your car in our garage." Maura held the key ring out toward Jane. "What do you think?"

Jane did a few slow blinks and then a smile spread across her face. "Maura, did you just ask me to move in with you?"

"No, Jane, you've already moved in with me in all but official mention. I'm asking you to stop pretending you don't live here and go in the morning to change your address on the paperwork HR keeps for you. We can finish moving everything in this weekend. I'll call my movers."

Reaching out to take the offered remote, Jane held it in her hand as if it were something precious. "What about Ma?"

"She can move into your apartment, which will take care of most of the issues we'd have ranging from you stepping out of her lease to what to do with pieces of furniture you didn't want to move here and pieces of furniture I'd have to move elsewhere to what to do to prevent Angela from walking in on us during an unfortunate moment," Maura smirked, "for her."

Leaning forward, Jane placed a gentle kiss on Maura's lips. "I'll be back in about an hour."

"Jo, Bass, and I will be here. I'll make us a salad while you're gone, but…"

"I know, I know." The detective gave a wave of her hand to brush aside the comments as she stood to leave, "I have to make dinner tomorrow."

* * *

"Ma, no. Stop it." Jane batted away her mother's attempted at hug. "I told you that, if you made a scene, you couldn't help me unpack the rest of my stuff."

"I'm allowed to be happy that my daughter is finally moving in with someone. I mean, it's not _marriage_, but…"

"One step at a time, Angela," Maura cut in, giving Jane a reassuring smile. "Thank you for your help today. Have you fully settled into your new apartment?"

"It's nice to have a place of my own, but it's a little lonely. I'm so used to have you girls around all the time, but," Angela shrugged, "I'll get used to it, I guess."

"Yeah, about that," her daughter glanced to the honey brunette currently shifting furniture in the living room. "I was wondering if you could help me and Maura out a little bit?" Maura's head shot up, a question in her features. "You know, Maura and I work a lot, and Bass, he's a solitary kind of turtle," she smirked at the glare shot at her, "but Jo? Jo's a pack kind of animal, and I was wondering if, you know, just for a little bit until Maura and I get settled and find a routine, if you'd be willing to take care of Jo?"

Angela's smile beamed, her eyes filled with an odd relief. "Of course! If it'll help you girls out, I don't mind."

"Great, thanks, Ma. You, uh, you should probably take her stuff so she'll be comfortable, you know?" Jane pulled over an empty box and started to fill it with Jo's bed, toys, and food.

Her mother helped, and Jo was packed in no time. "Well, I'll just take Jo back over to the apartment and get her all unpacked unless you girls need me for something else?"

"No, Ma, we're good. Maura and I've got this." Jane leaned over to give the elder Rizzoli a peck on the check and to scratch Jo behind the ears. "Be good for Nonna, Jo. See you later, Ma."

With a final wave goodbye, the front door closed leaving Jane with Maura and Bass as her company. Her lanky shoulders slumped and she gave a heavy sigh. "I'm going to miss my dog."

"That was a very nice thing you just did." Maura walked around to wrap her arms around Jane's slender waist. "I'm proud of you for that. I know it was hard to let Angela have Jo."

"Ma would have been lonely. At least this way I know they're both taken care of while we're working, you know?" Turning to face the smaller woman. "We have each other. Ma deserves someone, too." She winked and then frowned at Maura's knowing smile. "Don't say Korsak."

The doctor gave a little frustrated bounce. "They make such a cute couple!"

Jane groaned. "I love you, but, if you insist on forcing that mental picture on me, I may be forced to never speak to you again."

Maura gave her best pout. "But how will I know when I'm doing it right?"

Taken by surprise at the random question, Jane narrowed her eyes in thought. "Doing what right?"

"That thing you like that I do with my tongue," Maura answered, her voice dropping to a sultry whisper. "I like hearing you tell me to do it again."

"I like where this is going," Jane said as she walked backward toward the bedroom, pulling Maura with her. "How about I tell you all the other things I like that you can do with your tongue?"

Maura's smile grew predatory. "I like that idea. I like hearing you talk, but," she took the detective by surprise, pushing her against the bedroom's doorframe, "I _love _hearing you scream my name."


	9. Chapter 9

"Rizzoli, did you see this?" Korsak threw a file down on her desk.

"What's this?" She picked it up, opening to the newest page. "I thought the Todd case was closed."

"It is, but Trish Todd escaped last night during a transport." He leaned against her desk. "They've been searching for her since about midnight last night."

"You're joking? How could they let that happen?" Her jaw clenched as she flipped through the latest report. "This is ridiculous, Korsak. What happened? They have a bunch of rookies covering this? Man," she shook her head in disbelief.

"Rumor is she had a lot of help." He threw down another folder. "I'm wondering why there's a connection."

She closed the folder in her hand and looked down to the one on her desk. "Doyle?" Her eyes widened. "Korsak, what are you saying here?"

"I'm saying that the rumor mill is that someone not on Doyle's team helped spring Trish to use a leverage with Doyle."

"Okay, I cannot tell you how many different ways that doesn't make sense." She rolled her eyes and dropped folder in her hands onto the desk. "First of all, there's absolutely no connection between Trish and Paddy Doyle. Second of all, even IF there was a connection, Doyle would let her rot rather than let her be used against him. Third of all, this the most random rumor I think I've ever heard in my life. Seriously? Where do you come up with this stuff? I think you've been hanging around Ma and her murder mystery books too long."

"I know it sounds random, but it's not. Look, there's a link between the Todd's transport line and Doyle. Rumor was that Doyle wanted to force Todd into using his transport line to ship illegal goods between Boston and New York, but Todd wouldn't do it. Trish had a light affiliation with Doyle before she murdered her ex-husband in an attempt to take over the company."

Jane shook her head. "Yeah? If that's true, why didn't that come up when we were investigating?"

"Because we were focused on Jason, and then Maura found that needle mark. We just didn't have to investigate it long enough to hit on the connection, but, this was waiting on my desk when I got here this morning." He handed her a printed letter held in a plastic protective sheet.

She took it, holding it out to read it.

_Korsak,_

_This would go to Detective Rizzoli, but she's too close now. Trish Todd was working for me as a personal assistant of sorts before she went off the deep end and decided that killing her ex was quicker than the route we were taking in order to get in on his transport line._

_Trish knows a lot, including who my children are._

_I can't come out and play right now. The Feds are hot on tail, which means I can't watch Maura like I'd like. I'm telling you because I have to. _

_O'Toole's group has Trish. _

_PD_

"Wait, so Trish was Paddy's secretary or something, and now she's with one of his enemies?" She grunted. "I have to check on Maura."

"Jane, listen to me, you stay with her until we find Trish. Don't let her out of your sight, but," he frowned deeply, physically preparing himself for the verbal attack he was about to receive, "you're both in danger now. You've been with Maura for about 18 months now, and every paper in Boston has talked about your personal relationship at one point or another. You're a target, too. I'm placing a uniform on you both."

"What? No way. The press already let the cat out of the bag about Maura and Doyle. The whole world knows she is his biological daughter. No," she violently shook her head. "I can take care of us, Korsak. I don't need a uniform tailing us all the time."

"Better safe than sorry. Who knows what Trish has on both Paddy _and _Maura? It won't be long before we find Trish." He stood straighter as he faced her down. "Don't make me have to pull rank with you."

"Fine." She threw her hands up. "Whatever. But, if your security detail loses us because they're not fast enough to tail us, that's not my problem."

His frown deepened to a scowl. "Don't do anything stupid, Jane. I'm doing this for both yours and Maura's safety."

"Right. I'm going down to the Morgue to fill Maura in." She grabbed both files and the letter, stood up with a flourish to show her obvious irritation, and headed for the elevators.

"That went better than I thought," Frost said as he stepped out from behind the filing cabinets.

Korsak threw him a hard glare. "Yeah, thanks for having my back, Frost. I mean it. That was great of you."

"Hey, man, one of us had to be the good guy that she could come to if she wanted to vent. We drew straws." He pointed at the sergeant. "You lost."

The senior detective gave a grunt as he headed to his desk. "I still say you cheated."

Frost gave a chuckle. "Nah, you just have bad luck."


	10. Chapter 10

"Maura," Jane's stride was long and footsteps heavy as she rushed into the morgue to find the doctor pouring over paperwork at her desk. "We have to talk."

"Jane, if it's about Jo, I already told I was sorry. I had no idea you would hate her having painted nails as much as you do. I'll remove the polish the next time you bring her…"

The detective rolled her eyes and made a wide, sweeping motion with her arm. "No, it's not that. This is serious. I need you to pay attention to me." She stopped in front of the massive desk and waited until the seated woman made eye contact with her. "During transport last night, Trish Todd escaped police custody."

"I don't understand how that continues to happen. One would think that, after Hoyt's last escape, they would increase security measures." The doctor frowned in thought for beat. "At least she's not as dangerous as he was."

"She might be." Jane ran a hand through her hair. "You're not going to believe this, but Trish Todd has connections to Paddy Doyle." Holding up her hand to stop the flow of questions before they could begin, she continued her explanation in a hurried tempo, ripping the band aide off quickly. "We didn't uncover before we discovered she was responsible for her ex-husband's murder, but she apparently was working for Doyle behind the scenes. She was trying to get her ex to work with Doyle, and, while she worked that angle, she was also doing what amounts to personal assistant work for Paddy. She knows a lot about Doyle's personal life, Maura. _A LOT._"

Jane began to pace as she tried to connect the dots for Maura as Korsak had done for her. "Korsak found a note on his desk when he got in this morning. There wasn't any sign how it got there, and I'm sure Frost is going through the tapes now, but that's not really important. What's important is what it said. It said," she stopped pacing to again face the smaller woman, "that Trish Todd didn't just escape; she was taken by Tommy O'Toole, one of Doyle's enemies, and the implication is that O'Toole is going to use Trish to get personal information about Doyle to use against him and gain control of the city."

"Jane," the frown on Maura's face deepened, "it's no secret that Patrick Doyle is my biological father. When you… during the incident with the arsonist, the media revealed that connection. I'm in as much danger as I've always been."

"If Paddy Doyle went through enough trouble to leave a note on Korsak's desk saying that you are in trouble and explaining that he can't protect you right now, it's more serious than the usual levels here, Maura. Korsak's putting a uniform with us until Trish is caught." Giving a shake of her head, the taller women tried to reign in her irritation. "He says we're both in danger right now because we're such a high profile couple."

"I suppose his concern has merit, but I simply don't believe you or I are in any more danger than what is normally called for in our respective lines of work and based on our personal family matters." Maura stood, walking around her desk to stand next to the lanky brunette. "I think he's over reacting."

"Exactly! That's what I think, too. I can protect you. I don't need a uniform…"

"_But_, I appreciate his concern, and I think we shouldn't fight him on it. If it makes him feel better to have a uniform trail us, then let him. What harm can come of it?" With a gentle smile on her face, Maura laid a light touch against Jane's chest, letting her fingers run along a well-tailored lapel. "We'll just have to remember to leave the curtains closed tonight."

"I, um," Jane swayed slightly into the honey brunette's touch, "Okay."

Maura raised an eyebrow as her smile turned into a smirk. "That's all I get, Detective."

"Unless you want me to lock the door?" A feral grin spread across the detective's face. "We haven't done that yet, and I've always wondered what you'd look like panting and begging on top of your desk."

"Sweetie, as much as I would love to show you," Maura whispered in a husky tone, eyes darkening as she spoke, "I'd rather not give the uniform that walked in a show."

Jane backed up, making a face and giving a little stomp of her foot. "Man, I hate this!"

"You're adorable when you pout," the doctor said, a smirk still on her lips as she turned to greet the uniformed officer. "Hello Officer Barnes. I assume you're taking first watch with us today?"

"Good morning Doctors Isles," he gave a curt nod to the still stewing detective. "I am. I'm under orders to keep you together and with me until otherwise told. So, where one of you goes, the other goes. I'm sorry for any inconvenience."

"I believe it will be very little, actually," Maura commented in a nonchalant way as she made her way back to her desk. "Jane and I are rarely apart much at this point."

A grunt pulled their attention back to the woman in question. "Really? I'm standing right here. I _can _hear you." She rolled her eyes. "How am I supposed to work if I have to stay down here in the morgue all day?"

Officer Barnes held up a laptop and gave wink. "The wonders of modern technology, Detective."

"Great, just great." Jane stomped over, grabbed the laptop, and plopped down on the sofa. "Not only do we have to be watched like grader schoolers for God knows how long, but we're stuck with a smartass as our watcher." A frustrated sigh escaped her as her backside hit the uncomfortable piece of furniture. "Forget this. I'm sitting on the floor by an outlet."

"It's not _that _uncomfortable, Jane," Maura's voice was more amused than irritated.

"Want to make a bet? I've slept in jail cells that were more comfortable than that," the dark haired woman grumbled as she settled on the floor.

The doctor's head shot up. "When did you sleep in a jail cell?"

Jane's eyes grew wide, and she blanched. Glancing from Barnes to Maura and back again, she cleared her throat and moved her eyes down to the laptop. "Can't talk. Working."

Maura narrowed her eyes. "We'll discuss this later."

The Officer chuckled.


	11. Chapter 11

"Screw you, Barnes. I'm going for a run!" Jane gave her best glare as she continued to lace up her running shoes. "It's been two weeks. They're not going to find Trish, and, if something was going to happen, it would have by now. When Monday comes, I'm telling Korsak he can take his protection detail and sh…"

"Jane, that's enough." Maura gave a heavy sigh as she closed her notebook and set it on the coffee table. "Officer Barnes is doing his job, and we did invited him to come inside from the cold. Otherwise, he'd be sitting in his cruiser in front of our house. We've already discussed this. When Monday comes, we'll talk to Vince and have him remove the detail. Had he and Angela not left town for the weekend, we would be able to remove the detail sooner. But you know them being out of town was unavoidable."

"I thought we decided not to talk about the fact that my mom is dating my ex-partner?" With a visible shudder and a disgusted look on her face, Jane hopped up onto her feet and pulled her ponytail tighter. "Look, Barnes, you stay with Maura. I can take care of myself."

"It's only a few more days, Jane. I don't understand why you can't wait. We went running this morning, and Officer Jacobs did an admiral job of keeping pace with us. Can't you enjoy a little peace before the week begins?" The doctor patted the cushion next to her on the sofa. "We could watch one of those police dramas you enjoy so much. What do you say?"

"Come on, Maura!" The detective rolled her eyes and glanced to Barnes, who only shrugged. "I'm going stir crazy here. I _need _to get out."

An elegant eyebrow rose with a quirk. "Are you suggesting that living with me is stifling?"

"What?" Jane blinked, clearly thrown by the question. "Why would you think that? I didn't say that."

"Well, you finally agreed to move in with me last week, and, a week later, you're telling me you're going stir crazy. One has to wonder." The honey brunette gave a small shrug, face surprisingly neutral.

"Man, no," Jane gave an adamant shake of her head. "You know I was happy when you asked me to move in with you. It has _nothing _to do with that. You know that we," her eyes flicked to the uniformed officer, a blush rose on her cheeks, and she cleared her throat. Barnes gave a knowing smirk. "Never mind. No, I don't regret moving in with you or having Ma move into my old place. I'm just getting tired of having a chaperone all the time. I want to be able to go do my own thing without having to clear it with everyone first. _You_, sure, but not everyone and their dog."

Maura looked to Officer Barnes. "What do you think?"

"Me?" He cleared his throat and looked between the two women. "I could call Jacobs to come back over to be Jane's running partner. He said that was the best run he's had in a couple of months, so I'm thinking he wouldn't mind. How about that?"

"No," the detective pulled the house key she kept on a chain from the drawer in the table by the entryway. "Forget that. _I'm going for a run._" She pulled the chain over her head and dropped the key under her t-shirt. "I'll be back in half an hour."

"Sweetie, please," Maura stood, making her way to the taller woman. "Please stay here today. It's only two more days."

With a groan, Jane met the honey brunette halfway. "Maura, why are you so stuck on this? Nothing's going to happen. Just give me half an hour, and then I'm yours for the rest of the day. Okay?" She leaned in to place a loving kiss on the doctor's lips. "Hey, I love you."

Maura gave a demure smile as the blood rushed up her neck to leave a pretty pink hue on her skin. "I love you, too. Please don't take too long."

Jane placed another kiss on the smaller woman's forehead. "I promise. Thank you for understanding."

"Squirmy three year old, remember?" Maura gave a tender smile. "When we have children, you're going to have to mature to at least a ten year old."

"We're having children now?" Despite the teasing, Jane's eyes clearly lit up.

"Eventually, I should hope so. I feel you're going to make a wonderful…"

"Father." Barnes's voice broke the moment, his gruff laughter cutting into their moment.

"Shut up Barnes!" The detective turned and gave a sharp point toward the man chuckling in the corner. "I could make a good mother, too."

He shrugged. "Yeah, but you'll make a better pop. Let's face it, Rizzoli, you're the guy in this relationship."

"Trying to pick out which one of us is the guy in our relationship is like asking which chopstick is the fork. If Maura wanted to date a guy, she'd be dating a guy." Jane's gaze turned back to the other woman in the room. "That said… HA! I _told you. _I _totally _told you I'd be a guy in the relationship. I _told you_."

"So you did, sweetie," Maura conceded with a sigh and a roll of her own eyes. "Shall we have our children call you Pop?"

"Oh, you're funny. Who taught you how to be sarcastic like that?" With a husky chuckle, Jane bent over to kiss her girlfriend's cheek.

"I can't imagine. Have a good run, and please come back home quickly."

"Promise!" Smiling, Jane strode to the front door, opened it, and was greeted with the face of two masked men and the business end of the barrel of a gun.


	12. Chapter 12

"Get back inside. Now!" The gun motioned, and the two large men pushed in. As the one with a gun pulled kept the weapon aimed toward the three people in the room, the other man closed and locked the front door. "You," he motioned with the gun toward Maura. "Come here."

"What do you want with her?" Jane stepped between them, grunting when the butt of the gun cracked across her face, knocking her to the ground and blacking her out for a brief time.

When she came to, her head throbbed, her vision was slightly blurry, Barnes was bleeding from his chest, Maura was on her knees in front of their assailants, and she was still on the ground where they had left her.

"Where is he?" The man with no gun shouted.

"I told you," Maura responded quietly but firmly, "I don't know. He's my biological father, but that does not mean I have anything to do with him."

"We don't believe you. Stan, show her how much we don't believe her." The man with the weapon snarled through his mask.

"Yeah, sure," the other replied as he pulled back and smacked the small woman as hard as he could across the face.

Maura came up with blood trickling down the corner of her mouth. She said nothing. Instead, she recomposed herself quickly and stared Stan down.

"Think you're tough, don't you?" Stan said. "I could snap your neck in a second."

"Doubtful. You think I know something you want to know. You'll keep me alive," the doctor said with full confidence.

Jane winced, knowing that antagonizing these men was the worst thing to do at this moment. She looked around as best she could without gaining attention. She had one chance. If she could incapacitate the guy with the weapon, somehow get a hold of the gun, then they could turn this situation around.

Slowly turning her head, she looked to Barnes, whose eyes were open and moving. He was alive but injured. They made eye contact, and she glanced to the man with the gun. Barnes simply blinked.

'_Okay, Rizzoli, you get one chance. Let's hope Barnes can read minds.'_ She held the officer's gaze and then moved her eyes to the man with the gun again, hoping the uniformed officer would understand she needed a diversion.

Suddenly, the officer began to moan, trying to move.

It was enough, both men turned, and, in that moment, Jane moved from the floor, grabbing the gun as she threw her full weight against the broad shouldered man. Using her momentum and her hand-to-hand training, she rolled him, taking him to the ground as she kept her hand firmly on the barrel of the gun to prevent him from aiming.

She could hear scuffling, and she hoped Maura was okay as she struggled with their attacker. With a loud grunt, Jane managed to find her footing well enough to kick out, landing squarely between the man's legs and causing him to hit the ground.

The detective grabbed the gun, returned the favor of smacking her assailant across the head with the butt of the gun, and knocking him out. She turned to find the other man and check on Maura.

She had to smile.

Maura had him against the ground, face down, with his arm twisted behind him. "I believe," she said between gasping breathes, "your self-defense training has been very effective, sweetie."

"You look like a badass, babe." Jane's voice was full of pride. "Hold him while I cuff this guy." She walked to the table by the entryway, pulled out two pairs of cuffs, and proceeded to cuff the unconscious man. Then, she moved to the still conscious man pleading to be released. "You're lucky she didn't dislocate your shoulder. She's a doctor, you know. She'd know how to make that super painful." With a wink, Jane took his arm from Maura and proceeded to cuff him as well.

Meanwhile, Maura made her way to Barnes. "I'm going to look at your wound," she said gently as she began to kneel. She could hear Jane calling in for a BUS and additional backup to take in their attackers. "I'll try to be gentle."

He only nodded as she moved to unbutton his shirt.

In a moment that went by too quickly for Jane to do a thing about but too slowly for her to ever forget it, Barnes moved as if he had never been injured, grabbing for and missing Maura's arm as he pulled his gun. Maura fell backward, out of his reached, and scampered back on her hands and feet, trying to get away as the gun went off.

"Maura!" Jane's voice was shrill even to her own ears as she lunged at Barnes, scratching at his face. "_No! I'll kill you, you bastard!_"

* * *

Later, when people ask her what happened next, she'll say she doesn't remember anything from the point of lunging at Barnes to being on the floor next to Maura, putting pressure on the bullet wound and telling the petite woman not to leave her.

She'll tell them it all happened in a blur of panic, paranoia, and years of police training.

In that moment, however, she knew exactly what she was doing as she threw her elbow into his eye, incapacitating him as she pulled his gun away while he pulled the trigger a second time, missing her but managing to put a bullet in one of Maura's favorite prints. In the time it took for him to react, Jane had his gun pointed at his chest, and she did not hesitate for a split second before she pulled the trigger and watched him slump against the perfectly painted and textured wall.

Then, the gun was forgotten as Jane rushed to Maura's side. "Maura?" She begged, pleaded. "Open your eyes." She pulled the high dollar shirt apart to get at the wound. She gasped at the damage. "Come on, you have to open your eyes. Stay with me." She was crying. She was angry. She was scared.

With quick movements, she bunched the tattered shirt together and placed it over the wound, pushing down. "Help will be here soon. You have to stay with me. Don't leave me." She leaned down to put even more pressure on the gaping hole in Maura's chest. "Please don't leave. Stay with me. Maura, you have to stay with me."

Slowly, hazel eyes opened. "I'm sorry," the small woman whispered.

Jane shook her head. "Sorry? Don't be sorry. Don't be anything but alive. Come on, help's going to walk through that door any minute now."

"I love you; don't forget," the doctor whispered, voice becoming more and more faint.

"God, no. No!" Jane was shaking, her body vibrating with her panic. "I love you, too, and so does Ma and Frankie and Tommy and Jo. We wouldn't know what to do without you. Who would correct our grammar? Who would tell us about Panda poo tea? Who would make us cultured? Maura, please, _please_, stay with me." Her voice vibrated with her fear. She could see Maura slipping. "And what about Bass? Who else is going to figure out what's wrong with your turtle if you're not around? We need you. _I _need you. Maura…"

Giving a faint smile, Maura closed her eyes, and sighed out the last word Jane would ever hear her say, "…tortoise."

"Maura? _Maura?!_ Oh, God, no! _**NO**_!" Jane checked for a pulse but found nothing. There was noise, but she didn't bother to look up. Strong hands pulled her away as people with medical equipment swooped down to take over care of the doctor. "Oh, God. Maura."

"Jane, stay here. Let them do their job." It was Frost. His arms wrapped around her to keep her from interfering with the paramedics, he tried to talk her down. "Let them take care of her. You've done everything you can."

She struggled, fought, and then gave in to her remorse as she watched them take the doctor out the door and into the back of the ambulance. Tears flooded her sight as she collapsed onto the floor. "Shit, Frost," she managed to get out between sobs, "she's gone." She glanced down at her blood soaked hands and clothing. "She's gone." Her voice was small, weak. "What the fuck am I going to do now?"

* * *

**How is everyone doing?**


	13. Chapter 13

"We don't know that for sure," Frosts voice was strong, but she could feel him shaking as he held on to her. "We just have to keep the faith, Jane."

She said nothing, trusting her partner to handle the crime scene while she sat in the floor beside the pool of Maura's blood. It took Frost some time to get her to respond to him, and, when she finally spoke, he could only get a few words at a time from her.

"Jane, can you get cleaned up for us?" He squatted down to be eye level with her. "Here," he held up a large plastic bag. "You know I need you to put the clothes you're wearing in this, okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded numbly and rose, taking the bag and heading for the master bedroom and bath, but she stopped just before the carpeted portion of the floor. Her eyes fell to the line between the hardwood floor and soft, plush carpet. She stared. "Blood stains."

"What?" He stepped up next to her and looked down at the pristinely clean light colored carpeting. "I don't see any."

"I'd leave them." With a dried blood covered hand, she pointed to her feet, which were splattered. "Maura wouldn't like it." She shook her head. "Guest bath." With that, she turned and headed the opposite direction.

Frost watched his normally strong partner head in a zombie like shuffle to the guest bathroom, and he prayed that the last time he would ever see Maura Isles was not as a lifeless victim in the floor of her home with Jane crying and pleading above her to come back to life.

That was one mental picture he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to erase from his memory.

* * *

'_Maura would tell me to make certain to include ever piece of clothing I'm wearing so I don't corrupt the evidence chain,' _Jane thought as she peeled her stiffening clothes off and dropped them into the plastic bag. _'I should be at the hospital right now. I should…'_ She glanced down at her blood splatter body and winced.

'_You can't do anything right now to help Maura, Jane, so it's better to get cleaned up. There's no reason to keep smearing blood everywhere.'_ She stepped into the hot shower and let the water pound at her. _'Maura would tell me that; she'd tell me to get cleaned up first.'_

'_Sweetie,' she'd say, 'Make sure to thoroughly wash your hair. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of things that can get trapped in your hair in a day.' _ Despite herself, Jane chuckled as she remembered the last shower they had shared.

It was after a run, and the leaves falling from the tress had found their way into her hair. As she pulled them out during the run, little bits and pieces would remain. It took Maura ten minutes to get everything out, but Jane didn't mind. She had liked the attention and been amused at the other woman's clear annoyance.

'_I survived a bullet. If I survived, she can survive. She's tougher than I am.'_ Jane stepped out, wrapped a towel around herself, and looked to the evidence bag. _'It was a lot of blood. What if… no, Maura doesn't like sentences that start like that.'_

Not really caring who was in the rest of the house, Jane stepped out in her towel and walked through her home, past the crime scene techs, her partner, and a large number of uniformed officers, and into the master bedroom without so much as making eye contact with a single person. As she pushed the door closed, she let the towel drop.

The air was cooler in the bedroom. _'I forgot to make the bed. I promised her I'd do that. I promised her a lot of things, like I'd protect her. This is all my fault.'_ She walked into the closet and let her eyes scan over the perfectly kept clothes there.

'_I need to get to her.' _ She began opening drawers to pull out underwear, a pair of comfortable jeans, a t-shirt, and other items she needed to get dressed. _'I don't know if I can do this…'_

* * *

The waiting room was silent. Frost sat with Jane. He had already called Korsak. The senior detective and Angela were on their way back now. Jane had enough presence of mind to insist Frost call Constance as well. She was catching the next flight back into the country.

The normally fidgety and active detective was eerily still as she stared at the wall, and Frost was beyond himself on what to do. The two women were two of his best friends, but Maura was Jane's girlfriend. They were practically married.

He could not imagine what she must be going through at this moment, and he hated himself for pushing her to give her statement so soon. Luckily for him, she had simply rattled off the facts without so much as a tear and then she shut down, which is where she was mentally right now.

She was shut down until they knew.

He knew it was going to be bad when they ushered them into a small, private waiting room. He watched her and wondered where Korsak and Angela were. They had a four hour drive to make, and he hated the universe for putting them all in this position. There was no way Angela would make it there in time if the worst was about to happen.

"Frost?" It was Frankie. He stepped into the room and glanced to his sister, who didn't even acknowledge his arrival. "We got anything yet?"

"Hey," Frost shook his head. "Nothing. She's in surgery, and they just moved us in here. You hear anything from Korsak?"

"Yeah, he and Ma are about 2 and half hours away." The younger Rizzoli strode over to sit next to his sister. "Hey, Janie, how you holding up?"

Her eyes slowly swung to meet his, and she gave a sluggish couple of blinks in his direction. She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Instead, she shook her head and took in a deep breath. "What'll we do, Frankie?"

"Ma'd tell us we should pray, but I know Maura isn't really into all of that. What would Maura say we should do?"

'_She'd say the facts are the facts, and we would have to base the conclusions to our hypothesis on those facts, and the facts say… things I don't want to hear right now.' _ Jane shrugged. "She'd say to ask the doctors once they get here."

Frankie nodded. "Sounds about right. You want me to get you anything? Coffee or water or something?"

"No," she gave a very weak smile of thanks, "thanks."

As the room fell back into silence, the door opened to reveal a very tall, thin woman in scrubs with a very tired look on her face. "Are you the family of Maura Isles?"


	14. Chapter 14

Frost stood up. "He and I are her coworkers, and she," he pointed to Jane, "is her girlfriend."

The doctor frowned. "Does she have any relatives here?"

"No," Jane's voice was hoarse and scratchy. "No, _I'm_ her family. I mean, I'm her contact, her person. You," she slowly stood, taking point, "can check her release forms." She began to pull her wallet out to produce an ID. "I have power of attorney in the event she is unable to care for herself." She held the ID up for the doctor to see. "My name's Jane Rizzoli."

The doctor nodded and flipped through a file in her hands. After a moment, she looked back up, turned to hand the file to a nurse that had come in behind her, and too in a deep breath. "Are you okay with these two gentlemen hearing this information?"

"Yeah, it's fine. They're family, too." Jane stood a bit straighter, steeling herself. Her gut was talking to her, and she didn't like a thing she was hearing.

"Okay." With a nod of her head, the doctor continued. "My name is Doctor Tonya Gomez. I was the lead surgeon in charge of taking care of Ms. Isles."

"_Doctor _Isles," Jane cut in and then winced. "Sorry. It's … uh… it's Doctor. She really hates it when people don't call her that. Not that she's stuck up about it or anything. She just figures she spent all that extra time in school, you know?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, Ms. Rizzoli. I understand. Doctor Isles had extensive damage to her chest, and there was a great deal of internal bleeding. Our team did the very best that we could, but I'm afraid the damage was just too great."

Jane swallowed the thick lump in her throat.

"I'm so sorry. Doctor Isles did not make it through the surgery."

"Okay," Jane turned to his brother. "My phone's on the table over there. There's a contact file full of all the people we need to call to get Maura's funeral in order." The detective looked back to the surgeon. "She is… _was_ a firm believer in being prepared. Can someone come in here and help us get things started?"

The other woman nodded. "Of course. We'll send someone up here who can help you. In fact, I insist you allow us to help during this time. It's the least we can do."

"Thanks." Jane motioned to her brother to make certain he understood that she was leaving the initial planning to him. He nodded. Satisfied, she turned back to the surgeon. "I want to see her."

"Are you sure, Ms. Rizzoli? I know that, many times, loved ones feel the need to see…"

"I am a homicide detective for the Boston Police Department. I see death every single day. Maura is the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I have been with her during every autopsy she's performed during the course of our investigations, and I've seen just about every horrible thing a person can see, and I was the one applying pressure to that wound in her chest before the paramedics arrive. I know what she probably looks like, Doctor Gomez. I want to see her."

There was a brief standoff as the surgeon visibly shifted under Jane's suddenly razor sharp gaze. The doctor seemed to be trying to figure something out, but ultimately gave a sigh of resignation. "Give me a few minutes. I'll need to alert our morgue before I can allow you go down there."

Jane crossed her arms, and tried not to sneer as she replied, "Thank you."

* * *

The morgue for Boston General was far less inviting than the morgue for the Boston Police Department. There was no classical music softly playing in the background, no light smell of rosemary and mint to cover up the smell of death and disinfectant, no freshly cut flowers in the corner to add color, and no golden haired medical examiner humming lightly to the tunes playing as she made careful and calculated incisions to a body.

The morgue for Boston General was full of the smell of disinfectant and the gleam of colorless stainless steel.

'_Maura would hate this place,'_ Jane thought as she followed a nurse toward a short, squat middle aged man with a receding hairline. _'And his scrubs fit like crap.'_

"This is Doctor Stan Lim," the nurse said as they came to a stop. "He is in charge of our morgue. Doctor Lim, this is Detective Jane Rizzoli. She's here to see Doctor Maura Isles."

'_It's almost like I'm coming down for a doctor's appointment or something. Life is so fucking weird.'_ Jane nodded. "Hello, Doctor Lim."

"Detective Rizzoli, I was told you'd be coming down." He gave a very small smile and quickly covered as if he realized how inappropriate it was to smile at that moment. "I'm very sorry for your loss. Doctor Isles was a brilliant mind. I'm afraid I don't have much time, and I can't leave you here alone, you understand, but, if you'll follow me, I can give you a few moments."

"Yeah, sure, I get it. I just need a few." Jane followed the doctor over to the rows of stainless steel doors and waited as he opened one to pull out the tray holding the body. She nodded to tell him it was fine to roll the sheet covering the body down, and then she stared at the lifeless face of Maura Isles. "She looks like she's asleep." _'Fuck, it's like I can see her breathing. Get a grip, Rizzoli. You're down here so you know. Remember, it's all about the facts.'_

"Can I touch her?" She asked the question before she knew she would. _'What the fu… right, it's about the facts.'_

The doctor shifted nervously. "We prefer that only the staff here actually handle the bo… erm the uh…"

"No, it's fine. I get it." Jane shrugged. "Trying to stop weird contamination issues. Maura would approve. I just… she's really gone, isn't she?"

"I'm so sorry, Detective Rizzoli." His voice was soft, mindful of the living's pain in this room full of the dead.

"Okay," Jane nodded her head as she wiped at her eyes. "Okay, I'm done here." She glanced to the doctor. "Thank you. Take good care of her."

He nodded. "Of course."

She turned to the nurse and sighed. "Let's go."

* * *

**I'm so sad for Jane right now. I can't even... ALL THE TEARS!**


	15. Chapter 15

"Jane, sweetie, wake up," the voice pulled her from her deep sleep.

"Don't wanna," she mumbled and rolled over, pulling the blanket over her head. "Ten more minutes."

"You need to get up," the voice insisted.

'_Damn it, Maura, let me sleep. We'll do yoga later.'_ She groaned and managed to mumble aloud, "Maura, I promise we'll do yoga this afternoon after work." She scrunched her nose up. _'I hate yoga.'_

The voice was quiet for a moment. "Oh, Janie, no," and that was when she realized it was her mother, and her mother sounded heartbroken.

It was enough to shake the younger Rizzoli out of her semi-conscious state, and, as she finally opened her eyes, her mind cleared and tears threatened to come again. She was at Maura's house, _her _house… _their home_, and she had slept on the sofa.

It had been too painful to sleep in the master bedroom because that was _their_ bedroom, and it had been too painful to sleep in the second bedroom of the house because Jane knew that room would have been converted to a nursery sooner than later. She could have slept in the guest house, but most of her mother's things were still in there, and, though it was too painful to sleep in any of the bedrooms, it was even more painful to be completely away from the things that reminded her of Maura.

With a sigh, she sat up as she wiped at her face. "Sorry, Ma. It's been a hard night."

"I know, sweetie," Angela said as she sat beside her daughter to wrap a protective arm around her. "I'm sorry Vince and I couldn't get here sooner."

"It's okay. I know you had to go to Cousin Trey's funeral, and I'm glad Korsak went with you. I'm not mad. I'm just," she closed her eyes as an unwelcome tear slid down her cheek. "I'm having a hard time right now."

"No one's going to hold it against you if you cry right now, Jane." The elder Rizzoli gave a squeeze of both reassurance and comfort. "What can I do?"

"Frankie got with some rep with the hospital to get Maura's funeral arrangements ironed out, Constance should be here soon, and, while I was still at the hospital, Frost called in the biohazard team to clean up, and Maura's carpenter to clean up and fix up." She turned around to look toward the front door. "They did a good job. I mean, the cleaning job's not as good as Maura would like, but I think I can probably clean it up before she," Jane stopped mid-thought. Swallowing a few times, she managed to squeak out, "I think I can clean the rest of it up."

"You don't have to do that right now," Angela spoke softly, trying to be as comforting as she could be. "I can do it for you."

"No," standing, Jane began to fold the blanket. "No, I need to do it. Until someone tells me I need to leave it, this is my home, and I'll take of it. Thanks, Ma, really, but I just need to find something to do. I'm on paid leave until everything is all sorted out anyway. You know I need to do something with my time." She carefully placed the neatly folded blanket back in its usual spot on the back of the sofa.

Angela watched her daughter with eyes full of patient understanding. "Do you want me to stay with you at least?"

"No, I can do this. But, when I can't stay here anymore, do you think I could share the apartment for a little while? I promise I won't kick you out of the bedroom anymore…"

"Who is telling you must leave here?" The front door closed with a gentle click as Constance Isles began to remove her coat, hat, and gloves. "Whoever it is should be corrected and quickly." At the surprised looks she received from the other women, she gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I hope I'm not intruding. The front door was unlocked."

"No, it's fine." Jane stood and made her way over, intent on picking up Constance's suitcase and taking it to the guest room.

Constance turned back in time to see Jane picking up her luggage. "What are you doing?"

"Taking your suitcase to the guestroom. I'm guessing you'll want to stay here until Maura's estate is worked out. If you want, I can help you with the inventory, and…"

"Don't be ridiculous, Jane." Constance batted at the younger woman's hands. "Is she always like this?"

"Thick skulled or stubborn?" Angela asked, trying to inject a little levity.

"Yes, that as well, but I was actually referring to how easily she seems to jump to conclusions," Constance answered as she picked up her own luggage and started to the guest room.

'_How many times do I have to tell you, sweetie, get the facts first before you come to your conclusions.' _ Jane rolled her eyes. She could hear Maura's voice berating her while Constance and Angela talked about her as if she weren't standing right there.

"I want you to know, Jane," Constance called out as she returned from the guest room, "that you are Maura's Executor, and, what's more," she sat on the sofa beside Angela, dropping her purse in her lap, and digging through it as she continued to speak, "her will lists you as her beneficiary."

"What?" Jane's face displayed the shock her voice held. "What do you mean I'm her beneficiary?"

"What I mean, Detective," Constance pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and unfolded it, "is that, besides a small endowment to be set up for a scholarship at Maura's alma mater and a trust to be set up to assist with funding to help the underprivileged youths here in Boston, you are listed as the individual to inherit my daughter's estate."

"You've got to be kidding me." The young Rizzoli was clearly stunned. "I don't… I didn't know. I mean, I… really?"

"Yes," Constance handed the piece of paper to an equally stunned older Rizzoli before placing her purse on the coffee table before her. "Of course, you'll need to speak with our family lawyer before it can all be finalized, but I thought you should know you ought to not have any fear of anyone removing you from here. This is your home and will remain so until you decide otherwise. Maura's father and I don't have plans to contest our daughter's will."

"Janie, there's a lot of legal stuff here I don't understand, but, from what I can tell, she's right." Angela slowly lowered the paper, face still showing slight shock. "You're it."

"I never wanted to be with her for her money," the lanky brunette said as she leaned against the wall behind her. "That's not what I wanted at all."

"Which is exactly why we're not contesting the will," Constance said, her voice cracking slightly. "We felt Maura chose her partner well, and, though we would have preferred someone who would not be likely to cause a spectacle at our yearly ball for the foundation…"

"Yeah, I'm still sorry about that, by the way. I had no idea that was a _real _swan," Jane said a bit sheepishly.

"So you continue to tell us." Constance tried to hide the smile brought on by that memory. "My point is, Jane, that my husband and I have no issues with you being part of our family. Thank you for allowing Maura to be a part of yours." At this, her voice went hoarse, and she rolled her eyes up to keep the tears from falling.

"Maura was always part of our family, Constance," Angela said as she gave the other mother a light pat to the arm. "She was a good girl."

"Yes, yes she was, and so is your daughter, Angela." Taking in a deep breath, Constance stood and looked around the house. "What can I do to help you, Jane?"

'_Angela was always like a mother to me. I loved her very much,' _the voice in Jane's head said. She ran a hand through her hair. The running commentary of hearing what Maura would say if she were there was starting to wear thin. _'Really, brain? Could you __**not **__torture me right now?'_

'_Jane, you know your mind is not a separate entity from you, though the subconscious…'_

'_Yeah, okay, alright Imaginary Maura, I get it. Could you maybe take five while I process that Real Maura just left me a small fortune, a house, and turtle?'_

'_Tortoise.'_

"God," Jane groaned out. "I completely forgot about Bass. Has anyone seen him?"

"No," Angela stood up and started looking around the room. "I'll look for him. Jo is outside. I let her out when I got here."

"Shit," her daughter rolled her eyes, "After all this of this, I _cannot_ lose Maura's tortoise." She began to scan the floor. "How do you lose a giant African Spurred Tortoise? Wait a minute, I think I know where me might be. He always hides under Maura's desk when he thinks there's trouble." She walked over to the desk set to the side in the open floor plan of the house. "There you are! Okay, buddy, when was the last time you ate?"

"I've never understood the love Maura had for that tortoise. You know, she bought him on her own when she was a teenager? She said she wanted a pet, but didn't want something that would be so loud it would disrupt her studies." Constance watched as Jane talked to the reptile.

"He grows on you," Angela commented as she walked to the kitchen. "Jane, you want me to lay out some food for him?"

"No, Ma, I'll do it. But, can you," she stood up and looked around again as if she were creating a to-do list in her head, "pull out the cleaning supplies from the place Maura keeps them while I get his dinner together, and, while I'm cleaning, would you mind cooking something? I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Of course, Janie, whatever you need." Angela made a beeline for the laundry room.

Constance frowned. "You must let me help with something, Jane. Please, I insist."

"Yeah, actually, I do have something," the young woman said as she began to prepare a meal for Bass. "Would you help me clean? Ma's great, but not as thorough as Maura. She told me she learned her skills from you." She glanced up from the floor where she was placing the prepared tortoise meal. "Teach me? And, while you're at it, if you want to start explaining more about the Isles' Foundation work, I'm all ears."

With a look of approval in her eyes, Constance nodded in the affirmative. "Of course. I'll just be a moment. I should change into some work clothes."

"You packed work clothes?" Jane couldn't help but smirk. _'That's where she gets it.'_

"Yes," Constance replied with a look that clearly said she thought this would be obvious information. "It's important to be prepared for any possible situation."

"Of course it is," Jane said as she thanked her mother, took the cleaning supplies from her, set them aside, and went to the master bedroom to change into her own work clothes.

* * *

**Thank you so much for sticking with me with this story. Hang in there! Also, your reviews have been awesome, and I love all the speculation. That totally made my day, and it encouraged me to write out another chapter today for you guys.**


	16. Chapter 16

'_There are so many people here! I would never have expected such a turn out.' _ Jane sighed at the Imaginary Maura in her head. Hearing Maura inside her thoughts was becoming commonplace for the detective, and she couldn't decide if she was losing her grip or if this was just her way of processing her grief. Whatever the case may be, she wasn't ready to tell anyone about it. Hearing Maura, if only in her mind, was a comfort, and she could take all the comfort she could get at the moment.

It had been just a few days, and everything seemed to move quickly and slowly at the same time. She found herself crying at night when no one was around to see her, and, during the day, she felt empty, cold, and apathetic inside.

On the outside looking in, she appeared to be handling things well. She went through the motions of being a normal person, of being herself. She tried to act as if nothing was wrong because, when she acted like everything wasn't, she broke down, which she hated to do.

On the inside looking out, she was a complete mess. The guilt of not being able to save Maura was eating at her, and she felt as though she needed to be strong for everyone else. She marveled that the days could be so crisp, clean, bright, and beautiful when Maura wasn't there to see it and share in it with her. How could the world keep on going as if nothing had happened and everything was the same as it always had been when something _had _happened and nothing would ever be the same again?

It was a hardline, and, during it all, the Imaginary Maura in her mind commented and spoke calming words to her. If all she could hold on to was the Maura in her mind, then she would. She wasn't ready to let that Maura go, too.

'_You never gave yourself enough credit, babe. People love you.' _ Jane frowned deeply as she watched people move up to the closed casket, a requirement of Maura's preset funeral arrangements. They talked quietly amongst themselves, checked the cards of the various floral arrangements to see who had sent what, and then slowly made their way over to Jane, her family, and the Isles.

Maura had not been a particularly religious person, but her instructions for her funeral were crystal clear. She had insisted on sticking to "Anglo-Saxton traditions of a wake and a service along with a graveside viewing to allow for any individual who knew me while I lived to feel all the closure of my death they're able."

Jane hated having the viewing then night before the service the following day. It just seemed to draw things out unnecessarily, and she could only stand to hear, "I'm very sorry for your loss" or "I can't imagine what you must be going through" or "It's such a shame; she was so young" so many times before she started thinking about writing out reply cards and holding them up instead of having to repeat herself over and over again. One card to read "Thank you." One to read "It's been very difficult, but we'll eventually make it through". One to read "Yes, it is, and she was. We will miss her very much".

She was tired of saying the words. They felt thick in mouth, and they stuck in the back of her throat.

'_Jane, they're only trying to express their sympathies. Don't be rude to them, sweetie. They're in mourning as well.' _ The voice lightly chastised. Jane rolled her eyes.

"Janie, are you okay?" Her mother's voice broke into her internal conversation.

"What?" She glanced over to see a concerned look on the elder Rizzoli's face.

"I know you're hurting, sweetie, and… well, if you need a break from hearing people tell you that they're sorry for your loss, no one will blame you." Angela gave her daughter's leg a gentle pat.

"It's a little scary how well you can read my mind sometimes, Ma." Jane stood in a swift motion, causing Constance to gasp in surprise. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I, um… I'm going to grab a cup of coffee from the back room and take a little break. Is that okay, or would it look bad to your side of the family, Constance?"

"No, Jane, that will be fine. They'll understand, but try not to be gone too long." The older woman tilter her head in thought, and it was an eerie reminder of Maura. "Would you mind bringing coffee for us when you return?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll see what I can dig up," with a final small smile of thanks, Jane left the chapel and headed to the back of the funeral home.


	17. Chapter 17

The weird thing about a funeral home is how quiet it is. Everything is always muted, as if the very building itself knows what it houses and tries not to be too loud so as not to unnecessarily upset the occupants therein.

Even the employee break room is that level of low key, and Jane was happy to take in the peace and quiet of the area. No one was there. The staff was seeing to the needs of those in the chapel, and none of the people visiting tonight, with the exception of the deceased's family, even knew the break room existed.

Jane assumed she would be completely alone until she returned with coffee, so, when a deep tenured male voice spoke out, she cursed mentally at herself when she squeaked in surprise and abruptly turned around from where she stood in front of the coffee pot.

'_What is **he **doing here?' The voice hissed.  
_'_Paying his respects. You **were **his daughter, Maura.'_

"Why is my daughter dead, Detective?" Patrick Doyle was dressed in a sharply tailored black suit, and his eyes were red rimmed. Through an uncharacteristically scratchy voice, he quietly but angrily said, "I thought we had an agreement, that you would take care of my daughter, protect her."

'_Like he ever protected me.'  
_'_Not a good time, babe. Let's at least hear what he has to say.'_

Jane tried to recover, straightening her posture before she responded. "You know, this place is crawling with cops and FBI Agents. You're taking a huge risk coming here today, Doyle."

The older man narrowed his eyes, voice dropping lower in threat. "You have no idea how big of a risk I'm actually taking, but I will not let you burry my daughter before I have a chance to say goodbye." He stepped closer. "How did this happen?"

"You really don't know? I thought you had ears and eyes on the inside?" She nonchalantly turned to pour two cups of coffee from the hours old pot sitting there.

"They've been cut off," he replied as he took the offered cup. "I don't know what's going on inside Boston PD, but I can tell you that my people have been bought out."

The detective grunted in thought. "O'Toole?"

'_Why are listening to this?' _ Maura's voice was angry. _'Why aren't you arresting him?'  
_'_Because he might know who is actually behind your murder, and I need to know.'  
_'_Why, Jane? I'm gone. What more is there to do?'  
_'_Find the person responsible for making the call to take you out and…'  
_'_Take **them** out? Really, Jane, you know I don't approve of revenge. Think of your career.'  
_'_It's not as important as you are.'_

"Detective?" Doyle raised an eyebrow in question.

"What?" Jane mentally chastised herself for getting into an argument with a figment of her imagination while one of the most wanted men in the country was talking to her.

"Did you hear a word I said?" At her blank look, he frowned deeper. "I said it has to be O'Toole, but the only way to know for sure is to find Trish. We _need _to find her. I've got as many people as I can spare right now looking for her. What are you doing?"

"I," she blinked. What _was _she doing? "Nothing yet. I mean, I just…"

"Nothing? How can you do nothing? If you loved her…"

"Don't you _ever_," she was suddenly toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye with Doyle, "accuse me of _not _loving her. Maura was _everything_ to me. I would do _anything _for her."

He snorted. "Except keep her safe."

She slapped him before she knew it, and the sting in her hand along with the shock on his face was proof enough that it had just happened. "This is all your fault, Doyle. If you had come to some kind of agreement with O'Toole's gang, then they wouldn't have been gunning to find a way to get to you, and Maura wouldn't be dead. We had a security detail, a _fucking security detail_ with us all the damned time for _two fucking weeks_, and you know who shot her? Do you?"

She was breathing heavily, her eyes blazing with her anger. He shook his head in the negative. "The god damned security detail killed her. One of the supposed good guys, one of _my _own shot and killed her."

"Where is he now?" Doyle growled.

"Dead. I killed the son of a bitch myself with his own gun." She stepped back to gain some space. "Bastard."

"Do we know who he was working for?" His voice had grown cold and neutral as Jane's had grown passionate and angry.

"Fuck no. He didn't have the chance to tell. The whole thing was one big, well planned setup." She leaned against the counter and picked her coffee back up. Quickly, she explained the whole scenario from the letter left on Korsak's desk to the final moments for Maura. "They won't let me go back to work until a week after she's buried," Jane finished up. "They say I need time to grieve and process. Maybe they're right, but that's not what I want to do anymore."

His jaw visibly clenched and unclenched before he finally asked, "What is it you want to do now, Detective?"

"Until you walked in here, I honestly didn't know what I was going to do. Now?" She finished her coffee and poured another, adding in sugar as she spoke. "Now, I want to find the bastards who are really responsible and," she glanced up, eyes full of surprise at her own internal thoughts. "I want them dead, Doyle."

'_Jane, no. Don't make this deal. Please don't do this.'  
_'_Maura, it's all I have left right now. You're not here. I don't have anything to lose.'_

"I believe you," he said with a curt nod of his head. "I think it's safe to say we're on the same page." Doyle took in a deep breath. "I'll share what I find out if you do the same."

"Fine, but I want in on it when it goes down." Her eyes danced with a new found fire. "How will I be able to contact you? You got a burn phone on you?"

He produced a small cell from his inside coat pocket. "Never leave home without one. There's one number programmed in it. Call it when you know something. I'll call this phone," he handed it to her, "if I find anything. Better for neither of us to have a trail to the other."

"And, when we find out the person or persons responsible?" She slid the phone into her own inside coat pocket.

"You have my word that you and I will take them out together."

She nodded her acceptance. "It's a closed casket, Doyle. There's nothing to see in there."

"I know. I came looking for you, Detective."

She chuckled. "You going to take me out at your daughter's wake?"

He raised an eyebrow. "The thought crossed my mind, but this works out much better for both of us."

"You might still kill me when this is all over," she said as she began filling additional cups of coffee to take out the assembled family.

"Maybe, but, then again, I could have taken you out when I found out you were dating my daughter." He shrugged.

"Why _didn't_ you, anyway?" She made a face as she began the delicate balancing act of carrying full cups of hot coffee.

"She loved you, and it would have devastated her. Despite what she thought of me, I loved her. I always have, always will. After you shot me and she and I had our little conversation, I realized that taking you out for no apparent reason wouldn't be a bright move. Besides, I don't kill anyone who doesn't deserve it, and you don't… yet."

"I'll try to keep it that way," she grumbled as she headed for the door. "Get out of here before Dean comes looking for me and finds you."

He nodded his thanks. "I was never here."

* * *

**I would like to say a few things here...**

**I know this is hard to read. This is hard to write, but you have to have a little faith in me, okay? I NEVER write an unhappy ending. Just hold on. Also, you guys have to give Jane some slack here. The chapters before these last two? It all happened within a less than 24 hour time frame. She was in shock and trying to figure it all out. Everyone handles grief and mourning differently.**

**Okay?**

**Okay.**

**So no more nasty notes about me not giving you a happy ending because _it will happen_. This story is not over until you see 'thanks for reading all of this' in an A/N, and I always mark my completed stories as completed. So, if it's not marked as completed, it's not done yet. Just thought I'd throw that out there.**

**Now, who is excited for vengeful Jane? ;-)**


	18. Chapter 18

"Jane."

'_He doesn't get to set one foot in our house, Jane. I mean it.' _

"Dean." Her voice was scratchy with sleep. It was the day after the funeral, and she'd spend most of the previous night crying while curled up in a little ball in the middle of the bed she once shared with Maura. It was nine in the morning, and she was running on only two hours when her doorbell rang. "What do you want?" She didn't bother to step aside and allow him in.

"I came to pay my respects. I would have been here yesterday, but my plane was delayed." He glanced around her to the interior of the house. "Can I come in?"

She narrowed her eyes. "No."

"No?" He blinked in surprise. "Look, I was wondering if we could talk?"

"About what?"

"Patrick Doyle and Tommy O'Toole," he said, voice going quiet.

'_He's fishing, Jane. Tell him to leave. Please don't make things worse.'  
'He might know something.'  
'Are you still stuck on this? Please stop this madness.'  
'Love to, but you keep talking to me.'_

"You get ten minutes," she grumbled as she stepped aside to let him in. "I take that back," she said as she locked the door. "You get five. I need a shower."

"Jane, please," he rolled his eyes. "Can we be adults here? I know you're upset…"

"Upset? Really? It's not like someone ran over my dog, Dean. My wi… _girlfriend_ is dead."

'_Sweetie, were you about to call me your wife?'  
'Shut it.'  
'Oh, that's so… sweet, Jane.'  
'I hate you being in my head.'_

"I know, and that's why I'm here. Look, if you want me to leave the pleasantries behind, I can." He stepped up to the island and sat down on one of the stools there. "Is that what you want?"

"What I want?" Jane grunted as she opened the fridge and realized she was out of food. Maura normally shopped for groceries. "What I want is to give you some cash and a grocery list, you go get the stuff, and, when you get back, I'll be showered and ready to deal with you."

"Are you serious?" He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to go get your groceries for you?"

She crossed her arms. "You want me to talk to you?" He nodded. "Then you'll go where I tell you, and you'll buy what I say."

Dean seemed to think on it for a moment before nodding his agreement. "Fine, where do I go?"

* * *

"When did you start eating all this organic crap?" Dean set the canvas bags down on the counter, wincing as one handle pulled his finger a tad too far down. "I thought you were a beer and pizza girl."

Freshly showered and on the verge of making a cup of coffee when Dean rang the bell for a second time, Jane was only slightly less irritable than the first time she allowed him in her home. "There's a lot that's changed about me, Dean." She began to put the groceries away as he pulled them out of the bags. "Is this instant coffee?"

"It's for me. I paid for it with my own money, don't worry. The stuff at my hotel room is something claiming to be coffee." He began to fold the empty bags, but was shooed away by Jane, who took them and folded them herself as she motioned for him to sit down at the island again.

"What you're taking back with you isn't coffee either," she mumbled as she finished precisely folding the bags and placing them back in their proper spot.

'_I'm so glad you've finally learned to appreciate a good cup of coffee, Jane.'  
'Shut. It. Imaginary Maura.'_

She rolled her eyes. "You want a cup of coffee or something to eat while we talk?"

"Sure, I'll eat some of your all organic, fat free, low carbs, high protein whatever," he said with a smirk.

"I really hate you, you know," she shot back as she pulled out egg white substitute and the makings for a vegetarian omelet. "What do you want?"

"Hate?" He raised an eyebrow. "Harsh, Jane." At her utter look of disdain, he sobered from his teasing and cleared his throat. "I've been trying to track Paddy Doyle since his last great escape, and I came here to see if he showed up at Maura's funeral. Did you see him there?"

"At her funeral?" The detective took in a shaky breath. "No, can't say that I did."

Sensing the sidestep, he pushed. "Did you see him or speak with him at all? You're not harboring a fugitive, are you?"

Making a quick motion with her wrist, she flipped the omelet over on itself and tipped the pan to the side to let it slide onto a plate. "You want to search my house? I don't have anything in here to hide." With a quick slice, she cut the omelet in half and placed one half on a separate plate, which she slid to Dean along with a fork.

"That's not what I asked." He grunted in frustration. "He nearly killed both of us. Why are you protecting him?"

She made her way over to the espresso machine and began to grind the beans. "Who said anything about me protecting Doyle? I don't know anything about him, where he is, or what exactly he's doing right now. I could wager a guess, but," she turned to look at him, a smirk on her face. "I prefer not to guess if I don't have to."

He let out a heavy sigh. As the water began to filter through the ground beans and the kitchen filled with the smell of high end coffee, he counted to ten in his head. "Jane, is Doyle planning on doing something in retaliation for Maura? My sources tell me that Tommy O'Toole had a hand in all of this, and, if there's about to be another Irish Mob Turf War, then I need to know. We can't let that happen again. A lot of innocent lives could get lost. Don't you care about that?"

Jane set the coffee down in front of him and took a set across the way. She slowly cut into her omelet and took the bite as she considered what to say next. "You know, anyone in the city could tell you what Doyle is doing right now. Maura was his daughter. Every cop in the city will tell you that Doyle is going to try to find a way to take O'Toole out for what he did to Maura."

"Yeah, but not every cop in the city was dating his daughter. _You _were, and we know you've spoken with him before. We know he's called your cell before." He followed her lead, carefully talking between bites.

"I was a little wrapped up in burying the love of my life to really bother with scanning the crowd, Dean." She finished her food and focused on her coffee.

"I'm sorry to have to ask you all of this right now, but he's dangerous, and if he was going to contact anyone this time it…"

"Wasn't me." She stood and took the dirty dishes to the sink. "Frankly, I want to know where O'Toole is myself. Why aren't we trying to bring him in? He's the more volatile of the two right now. He clearly started this."

"Because we don't know where he is." Dean glanced at his phone and frowned. "Look, I have a meeting in an hour with my bosses. We're trying to get a jump start on this mob war. Are you telling me you're not willing to help us at all?"

She grunted, running a hand through her hair. "What do you know about O'Toole?"

"I can't tell you that." He scoffed.

"Then I don't know anything." She shrugged.

He narrowed his eyes. "Why do you want to know? Mob interests are the jurisdiction of the FBI. Boston PD doesn't have anything to do with it."

She returned the look. "Reasons."

"Jane, don't do anything stupid. Let us handle it this."

"Like you handled keeping Doyle locked up? Look, you want answers, and I want answers. Answers aren't free, and you can't just sleep with me anymore to get what you want." Her jaw flexed in agitation.

"That was not the reason I…" He took in a deep breath, and his look conveyed the hurt and offence her statement had caused. "Okay, fine, but don't say I didn't warn you, and you should know that I will not hesitate to lock you up if you manage to get yourself involved with the mob."

She crossed her arms and level set her shoulders. "Start talking."

"The last time we knew where O'Toole was, he was running an operation that shipped goods between Boston and New York. He was using a local trucking line to move his stuff, but, when the exwife of the owner killed the guy, that operation went belly up. It hit him hard. Most of his money was wrapped up in it. After that, he hit our radar on and off for a few months, but it was sporadic and low level crimes. His people hit a couple of banks, likely killed a few low level members of Doyle's outfit, and were harassing another local trucking line, trying to coerce them into being their new transportation hub."

She was taking close mental notes. "You're talking about the Todd's trucking line, right?"

"Yeah, and I know you know Trish Todd escaped during transport about three weeks ago."

"Are they related in some way? O'Toole and Trish?" She strode to Maura's desk and pulled out a small notebook to write down a few things.

"Maybe, but it's hard to say. We're still looking for what connections she might have had, but she doesn't have a lot of trails, and what trails she does are all legit. It could just be coincidence."

"What's the new trucking line O'Toole is harassing?"

"Jane…"

"What's the name, Dean?"

"Jenkins and Sons." He sighed. "That's all I'm telling you."

"Okay," she jotted down a few more notes. "How's this for you? I know for a fact there's a connection between Trish and Doyle. She was working as his personal assistant. He didn't tell her to kill her ex-husband. She did that on her own, but Doyle was trying to get the Todds to work for him."

Dean's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"

"I've got my sources. Take it or leave it. That's all you get. You want a trail on Trish? Try following her son's bank accounts and credit card activity." She tossed the notebook back on the desk, frowned, and then placed it and the pen back in their respective places. "Now get out."

"If you hear anything else…"

"I'll think about it."

The front door closed with a slam, and she quickly locked it behind him.

'_You should have told him everything, Jane. He's here to stop people like Patrick Doyle.'  
'He's here to further his career, Maura.'  
'What are you going to do now?'_

She leaned against the front door, sliding down until she was sitting on the cold tile of the foyer. "I'm going to make a phone call," she said as she reached into her pants pocket for the burn phone.


	19. Chapter 19

"What are you doing here? I thought you were on leave until next week?" Frost plopped down at his desk and flipped his monitor on. Leaning forward, he sincerely asked his partner, "How're you doing?"

'_Jane, you should be home right now. This is madness.'_

"Shut it," she grumbled under her breath, but Frost caught it.

"Okay," he pulled the word out as he held his hands up in a show of innocence.

"No, not you, Frost. I'm just," she was about to say, 'Talking to Maura,' but she realized how insane that would sound. She quickly changed it to, "talking to myself. Sorry." She stopped what she was doing on her computer and gave him her full attention. "The, uh, the funeral," the word was like acid on her tongue, "was three days ago. I'm bored at home. I've cleaned everything… twice, and I just can't take it anymore. I figured I could do a little paperwork to at least be kind of caught up when Monday comes and everyone lets me work like a normal person again." She shrugged.

'_I can't believe you're lying to him.'  
'I can't believe you're still talking to me. How many people live inside my head that aren't me anyway? Is my Nanna Rizzoli up there, too? God, you two aren't talking to each other about me as a kid, are you? If you are, anything she says about me and hair gel is a complete lie.'  
'Jane, what you're doing is no laughing matter. This is dangerous. You really should stop.'_

"I'm not stopping," she snapped back to the voice nagging her, and winced as Frost jumped in his chair._  
_

"I wasn't going to tell you to. I mean, I totally understand where you're coming from." He nodded in understanding, clearing his throat at the uncomfortable tension in the room. "I've been trying to help where I can, so you shouldn't have a lot to catch up, but we had a case come in. Listen, is there anything I can help you with?"

'_You're not really going to involve him, are you?'  
'Not exactly.'_

"Yeah, I do if you have a couple. I'm working on a cold case," she picked up a file on her desk and walked around to Frost's. As Maura's voice continued to demand she stop her actions, she pushed on, ignoring it as best she could. "I got a missing person's case from a few years ago, before you started, that I work on sometimes, and I had an idea hit me while I've been out." She dropped the file on his desk and pointed to a few things. "I'm thinking this kid might have been transported using something like an interstate trucking company as opposed to what we originally thought."

He glanced over it. "I see you guys were thinking he was taken via plane out of the country. Why are you thinking he wasn't?"

She shrugged again. "We've exhausted everything else. Anyway, you're the hotshot computer geek. Any chance you could look up the records for Jenkins and Sons Trucking? I'm working on Taylor Transport right now."

'_No you're not. You're looking up everything having to do with Tommy O'Toole. I can't believe how much you're lying.'  
'I can't believe you're still in my head. But, if you're going to stay there, you could at least help me think of things I might miss while I'm working on this.'  
'No. I refuse to help you break the law, risk your life, and risk your career all in the name of revenge for me.'  
'Okay, suite yourself, but know that I'm not going to stop, so you're just going to be along for the ride, Maura.'_

Jane settled back into her chair as Frost looked through the file. "I see where he might have been transported by truck, but it feels like a long shot." He glanced to the time display on his monitor. "I can take about an hour on this stuff this morning. Would that help?"

"Yeah, anything would be great. Thanks, Frost."

* * *

'_I wish you were actually here, Maura. It's hard to think when I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off of.'_

Jane tapped her pencil as she looked over the results Frost had handed her. There was something off with Jenkins and Sons' records, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Everything they could legal obtain without a search warrant was laid out in front of her, and she could practically smell something hidden in all the paperwork. Her gut said there was an answer here if she could just wrap her mind around it.

'_You would think better if you would get some sleep, Jane.'_

Maura's voice startled her, and she glanced around half expecting to see the medical examiner saunter up to her desk with a cup of coffee and a smile. Instead, she saw Crowe look at her from his desk, give a curt nod, and go back to his paperwork. She ran a shaky hand through her hair and turned her attention back to the scattered papers.

'_You know I can't sleep.'  
'You could take a sleeping pill. There's nothing wrong with using them occasionally. You need to rest. That's why you were given this time off.'  
'I need to find Trish. If I find Trish, I find Tommy's tools.' _She smirked. _'See what I did there?'  
'Yes, very clever, Jane. Now why don't you reward your cleverness by getting some rest?'_

"Rizzoli!" Cavanaugh's voice cut through Jane's internal dialogue, and she jumped in her chair almost letting a surprised squeal hop from her lips. "What are you doing here?"

"Lieutenant!" She tried to calm down. "I'm just trying to get a little paperwork done before I go back on duty." Swallowing down her heart from where it had just leapt into her throat, she nodded toward her desk.

"I told you to take time off." He pointed at her. "I meant it. Go home and get some rest." He dropped his hand and his voice softened just a bit. "No one is going to hold it against you if you take a few days off to deal with your loss, Jane. She was a good woman. We're all going to miss her."

'_That's so sweet. I didn't realize the lieutenant cared so much.'  
'I keep telling you that people loved you, Maura. I don't know why you don't believe me.'_

"Hey, Rizzoli?" Cavanaugh placed a hand on her shoulder. "Did you hear a word I said?"

"I," she shook her head, clearing it. "No, I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I mean, I _did,_ and I get what you're saying. But," she glanced to the pile of papers again, "I just wanted something to take my mind off of it for a while, you know?"

"Jane?" Korsak's voice from behind her made her sigh. The Universe was clearly working against her. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't back until Monday?"

"She's not," Cavanaugh answered for her. "And I was just telling her to go home."

Korsak looked from his former partner to the lieutenant and then to Frost, who had quietly been watching the entire thing. "How come you didn't tell her to go home, Frost?"

"I did, but you know how she is." He shrugged. "Besides, it can't hurt for her to work on a cold case, can it?"

Jane blanched. _'Shit.'  
'This is why you shouldn't have started this charade.'  
'Shut it.'_

"Cold case?" Korsak raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Which one?"

"That kid we thought was taken by his father back to Canada." She held up an old file in her hands. "I had a thought about what might have happened, and I figured now was as good a time as any to look into it."

"Well, it's not." The lieutenant frowned at her. "Go home, Jane. Take some real time. This will be here when you get back, and you're no good to us if you haven't slept in days."

Frost chuckled. "He's got you there, Jane. Anytime you pull an all nighter, you're cranky. The only person who can ever…" His voice died in his throat and the room suddenly felt heavy.

"Maybe I _should_ go home for the day," she said as she gathered the files on her desk. "Bass probably needs to fed or something."

Her partner looked pained and helpless. They all did. "Jane," he started but she held a hand up as she kept the tears at bay.

"It's fine," she assured as she packed things away to take with her. "Maura always said she was the only mouse that could pull the thorn out of my paw."

'_My lioness,' _Maura's voice mused in her head.

"I'll… I will see you guys next week, okay?" Jane hefted her bag over her shoulder and turned to the door, leaving without a look back or to hear a word more.

"Good going, Frost," Korsak mumbled, glaring at the younger man.

"Man, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. It just doesn't feel real, you know? I keep hoping to find Maura down there and not Pike." He sighed heavily, wiping a hand down his face. "This sucks. Of all the people, why _her_? Why Maura? It doesn't make any sense. It's like Jane gets the short end of _everything_."

"She looks like hell," Cavanaugh commented as he sat down in Jane's chair. "She didn't look this bad right after her first encounter with Hoyt. Is someone checking on her, Korsak?"

"When she lets us," the older detective answered as he made his way back to his desk. "The past couple of days she's been shut up in that house. To be honest, I was kind of glad to see her here today. It meant she was getting out, at least."

"Well, she took that paperwork with her. Maybe that'll help?" Frost added with a hopeful twinge to his voice.

"Maybe? Who knows." Korsak seemed to think on it a second. "That's a really old case. I'm surprised she's bothering with it. There have been unverified reports that the kid is alive and well up there. The whole thing was just a big, nasty custody battle gone wrong. His mother was using him as leverage against his dad, and the father got tired of it. Took him and the kid to Canada and disappeared. Honestly, I think the kid's probably just fine."

Frost's eyes narrowed in thought. "That's odd." After a moment more, he seemed to let it go. "Whatever it is, maybe it'll help her focus or something."

"Speaking of focus," Cavanaugh cut back in, pointing to the newest case file on Frost's desk. The young detective nodded, turning back to his work.

* * *

**As I just said on twitter, I just made an allusion to an older fan fic I wrote in my current fan fic. What is that? Is that Fanfiception? Whatever it is, if you figure it out, you get bonus points. For what? I don't know, but you get them anyway.**


	20. Chapter 20

"Okay," Jane sat down at the desk in the living room that still held Maura's work related material and flipped on the notebook computer she normally only touched to close when the medical examiner wasn't paying attention to her. "This is good stuff, but I'm going to need a little bit more if I'm going to find anyone worth talking to in Tommy's outfit."

'_I can't believe you're using my computer for this dubious enterprise. Can't you do something better with your time until you start back to work?'_

The detective rolled her eyes at the voice in her head. "Such as?"

'_Mother has left additional information about the Isle Foundation. You could read more about that, or you could spend some time playing with Jo and Bass. You could spend time with your family. You could clean out your car…"_

"Leave my car out of this. It's happy how it is," Jane muttered as she skimmed over additional information about Jenkins and Sons. The information Frost had found was a good start. They were definitely doing something questionable with the books, and her mind was trying to focus in on what that something was. The newest news articles about the trucking company were dated less than two weeks ago, and it seemed the trucking company was suddenly doing infinitely better than it had before the Todd's business went under with the murder of the owner. "Go figure," she commented as she read on.

One of the interesting things the article highlighted was the emphasis Mary Jenkins placed on the high level of security her brother had in place to prevent "seedy people", as she called them, from trying to bully their truck drivers. The article quoted her as saying, "Tony never skimps on security. He hires the best, and he often employs off duty police officers as part of his protection details."

'_I don't like what you're thinking, Jane. No. It's too dangerous. You need to stop this nonsense. You need to give yourself time to heal.'_

"I need to get a night job working for Jenkins and Sons," Jane retorted to the voice. "If Tommy's gang is pushing the trucking company, that's one step closer to getting an in. I should call Doyle and see if he can help me get a little street cred. They'll never hire a completely clean cop. They'll think I'm trying to bust them for something."

'_Jane, listen to me. You can't be serious about all of this. The last thing you need to do is dirty your good name. Patrick Doyle is a…'_

"Shut up." The demand was hiss into the silence of the large, empty house. She stood, pacing as she ranted to the Imaginary Maura in her head. "Shut the hell up. You're not her. I don't know what you are, but you're not her, and you can't tell me what to do, damn it. I'm going to find Trish. I'm going to find her, and I'm going to find Tommy, and I'm going to give him everything he deserves for doing what he did to you, Maura. I swear…"

A muffled call of her name pulled her from her rant. It came with a pounding on her front door. She froze midstride and mid-sentence. The voice called out again.

'_Oh thank goodness. It's Barry. Maybe he's figured out what you're up to and is here to talk some sense into you.'_

The detective groaned. "Shit." She ran a hand through her hair as she opened the door. "Frost, what's up?"

"I came by to see if you wanted to go have dinner." He glanced around her and into the house. "Who were you talking to?"

"No one." She shrugged. "The dog." Stepping aside, she let him walk in, eyeing him as he gave the house the once over. "The tortoise."

His eyes quickly met hers at the proper noun for Maura's pet, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he commented on the house. "I don't think I've ever seen this place so clean." He actually looked as if he were afraid to touch anything. "You really did clean everything twice, didn't you?"

She had to chuckle. "I got bored."

"I see you're working that cold case. You get anything else on it since this morning?" Without invitation, he sat down at the desk and looked at the article up on the screen.

She winced at the intrusion. "Not really. Well, I mean, I found something for _me, _but I don't think it'll really help with the cold case."

'_Have you always been this deceptive, or has my death giving you a new skill?'_

Frost's eyes quickly skimmed the article, but he clearly didn't follow. She rolled her eyes. "Jenkins and Sons is hiring off duty cops to do some security. I'm thinking maybe I'll apply."

"You're joking." He narrowed his eyes. "Why? It's not like you need the money, and you were just complaining a few weeks ago that you didn't have enough down time. Why take a second job?"

"Because now I have _too _much down time," she answered with just a hint of bitterness in her voice as her eyes ran to the spot Maura had fallen. "The nights are hard, Frost."

"I'm sorry," he mentally kicked himself. "I should probably have figured that out. Look," he stood, pushing his hands into his pockets as he uneasily shifted his weight from foot to foot, "I know I'm not… it's that if I…" He sighed in frustration at his inability to articulate. Finally, he shrugged and just said what was on his mind. "I'm here if you need to talk, and, frankly, I think you do. We're worried about you, Jane. I want you to know that I'm a safe bet. I mean, I'm not a member of your family or dating a member of your family. You don't have to hide everything from me. I'm not going to judge you. I swear anything you would want to tell me won't go further than me. I'm your partner _and _your friend. You can trust me."

Jane's arms wrapped around her as she bit her lip to keep it from quivering. The voice said she should talk to someone. Her instincts said to keep it bottled and be strong, but another part of her, the part still mourning, needed to at least talk about parts of it, just so someone would know and understand her side of the story once it came out that she had teamed up with Paddy Doyle to take out Tommy O'Toole. She nodded her head toward the kitchen and pulled out a stool for each of them to sit on at the island.

"It all happened so fast," her voice was quiet, tired. "One moment we're arguing about me wanting to go out alone for a run, and the next moment I'm pushing down on her chest to try to stop the flow of blood and begging her not to leave me."

She sighed, rolling her eyes upwards to keep the tears at bay. "You know what her last word was to me?" He silently shook his head no. "It was tortoise." She gave a humorless chuckle. "I told her she needed to be there to help me take care of the dog and turtle, and she corrected me." She shook her head, closing her eyes. "Do you know what happened down in the morgue at the hospital after they let me go see her?"

Frost cleared his throat. "No," it cracked despite himself. "You've never talked about it. I was really surprised they let you go, honestly."

"I didn't really give them a choice. I had to see her, you know?" She took in a deep breath as her mind replayed those brief moments in her head. With her eyes closed, she described the hospital's morgue, how Maura would have hated how impersonal it was, the kindness of the hospital staff, and frustration at not being able to touch Maura one last time. "But, like I told the doctor, I get it. Maura would have appreciated them keeping with procedure. It's just that," she opened her eyes, wiping at them, "I didn't want my last memory of me physically touching her to be when she was bleeding out on the floor. I would have rather it been something that was more Maura, more 'Queen of the Dead', if that makes sense. God," she stood to grab a tissue, "I hate myself for putting her through that when I shot myself. I completely get her fear now."

"You know," her partner's face was full of sympathy as he looked away to give her a bit of privacy, "I admire you, Jane. I really do. You're one of the strongest people I have ever known. I don't think I could handle half the stuff you've been through and not crack. I think," he looked back at her as she resettled on the stool beside him, "that the last thing Maura would want you to do is dwell on the past."

'_No, I don't want you to dwell. Remember the positive times and the things I've tried to teach you, but I'd much rather you move forward and continue to do **good **deeds.'_

"You're probably right," Jane said half to herself or, more accurately, to the voice in her head. "I think I just need to focus again and set my sights on what's really important."

"Like finding a kid that's been missing for over 5 years?" Frost's eyebrow rose in speculation.

"Every cop has that one, Frost. You know that." She shrugged. "Look, how about we go grab a bite at the Robber, and you can tell me all the gossip I've been missing?"

He smiled. "Sounds good, but, I warn you now, most of it is about Pike."

"God," Jane gave a disgruntled snort, "I hate that man. I can't believe they put him in charge. Maura's probably rolling over in her grave."

"Frankly, I hope she's haunting the shit out of him because he's made a complete _mess _of her morgue." He opened the front door and stepped through.

"Of course he has. You do realize the first time he says something negative about her I'm going to deck him right there on the spot, right?" She closed the door and locked it behind them.

"Actually, a bunch of us are putting it down in a pot. You want in?" He pulled out his car keys.

"How much you up to?" She slid into the passenger's side of his car.

"Last time I checked, we had 25 in the pot and it was around 500 bucks." He started the car and began to carefully back out of the driveway.

"I give myself the first day somewhere around lunch time." She pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "I promise I won't throw it; I'll play fair. Is that spot still open?"

"Nope, but you can have same day back to work around 7:30 in the morning." He shrugged.

"Man, what a rip off! I never get there before," she stopped and gave a hum of consideration. "Okay, fine, but we're setting Pike up for a nasty black eye really early in the morning. I hope you're happy."

He took the cash and stuffed it in his inside coat pocket as they both chuckled. "I'll tell Crowe to throw some frozen peas in the fridge tomorrow so Pike has something to help with the bruising."

'_I'd chastise you for this little wager, but I'm irritated he's sitting in my chair. Remember to aim slightly below the eye. If you hit him squarely in the eye, you could do massive damage to his already poor vision.'_

Jane's smile beamed. "I love it when you encourage me," she mumbled under her breath as she looked out the passenger's window. Frost heard her, but didn't respond. He was suddenly unsure who she was talking to, but he was starting to believe it wasn't to him.


	21. Chapter 21

"Rizzoli," Doyle's voice was scratchy with sleep as he answered the phone without a hello. "What do you have?"

"A lead," she answered as she leaned against the headboard of her bed. She had gone out with Frost for a bit, but she had been distracted with thoughts of how to get into Jenkins and Sons. The mental bickering she had been having all night with Maura had been louder than her conversation with Frost.

She had eventually apologized for her lack of focused and asked to be taken back home, citing tiredness as her reason for being so distracted. Frost had driven her back, and the car ride had been verbally silent as Jane continued her internal debate with Maura, occasionally groaning, rolling her eyes, or snorting at something Maura said that Jane thought was ridiculous.

Frost hadn't bothered to speak to her, but he watched her and made mental notes to talk to a few people about her odd behavior later, once he could piece few more things together.

It was midnight, and Jane had finally gotten up the nerve to make the call. She sighed heavily as she resigned herself to what she was about to do. "I need to get a second job."

"Can't imagine you need the extra cash now that you've inherited my daughter's estate, Rizzoli." His voice was devoid of emotion as he spoke. Though quiet, it held a threatening edge to it. He was clearly displeased to have been woken up for what appeared to be no reason at all.

"It was never about the money, Doyle," she spat back before reigning in her emotions. "Look, like I said, I got a lead. O'Toole's been working with Jenkins and Sons Trucking since the Todd's business went south. The straight line Jenkins is hiring off duty cops to run with the truckers on their routes to prevent the mob from trying to bully them, but…"

"You think they're hiring dirty cops to help make their runs seem more legit while they run O'Toole's goods?" He sounded impressed with Jane's detective work and the implications of what she was likely to ask next.

She nodded despite being alone in the master bedroom. "Yeah, exactly."

'_I'm begging you, Jane…'  
'Shut. Up. I'm doing this.'_

"So, I'm thinking I get a second job when I'm off duty and try to make some connections to O'Toole, but I've got a problem." She waited for him to fill in the blanks.

"You're too clean to be a dirty cop." It was a statement, not a question. "You want me to put the word out on the street that you're dirty?"

She hesitated. It wasn't really what she wanted, but she needed to find an in, and this seemed like the best way to do it. "Unless you have a better idea?"

Doyle grunted. He must have sensed the reason behind her hesitation. "I could make it clear Maura was _my _daughter, part of the family, and, by extension, so are you."

'_You would sully my good name! No, I can't believe you, Jane. How dare you.'_

"No, Maura would hate that," she sighed and threw in at the last minute, "no offense."

He actually chuckled. "None taken. You know, she'd hate you messing up your sparkling clean rep, too."

"Yeah, I know, but we have to get in." She groaned. This wasn't how she thought this conversation would go.

"They'll never believe you're dirty, Rizzoli. You're _too _clean. I could put a thousand words out on the street, and everyone would assume it was a cover so you could bust someone."

"Hurray for being a good cop," she deadpanned. She needed to get into the Jenkins business, and she needed to do it soon. "Okay, what if I went in disguise? I've learned a few things about cracking into computers from Frost. I could create a fake uni and pretend to be them."

"A uni no one has ever heard about before today? Yeah, that'll be convincing. You really are bad at this Rizzoli." He sighed. "I've got a couple of contacts that work in the NYPD. I'll have them work you up as an excop there who got cut loose for questionable behavior. We'll give you the works. You moved to Boston to start fresh, and you're looking for a night job because you want to stay out of sight of a few people up in New York."

"Sounds good," she frowned. This was getting more complicated by the minute. "What's my name?"

She could practically hear the shrug. "What do you want it to be?"

It couldn't be a name that was even remotely associated with her real life. She mulled it over in her mind for a moment. For whatever random reason, her brain jumped to her teenage years, and she thought, 'I always had a thing for Heather Tracy from _Dawson's Creek_.' Rolling her eyes, she blew out a frustrated stream of air.

"Heather Dawson," she finally answered and then smacked herself in the forehead for the horrible way she had just named herself.

He gave another grunt. "You'll need to do better than wearing a pair of glasses as part of your cover, and I'll need some pics of you to make the papers look right."

"Maura has a couple of blonde wigs." She cleared her throat and was suddenly thankful no one could see the blush crawl up her face. "They're high quality. Pretty sure I could wear on of those, and I could buy some colored contacts."

"What color?" His voice was tired and strained. It was clear Doyle wanted this conversation to be over.

"Green." Jane's mind flashed to Maura's eyes. It was a no brainer. "So, blonde hair, green eyes, and Heather Dawson? Got it. What kind of pictures do you need?"

"I'm going to send over someone tomorrow to your house to get that worked out. They'll come under the disguise of a personal shopper. Maura had a few, so it'll work. They'll help you with getting everything squared away." His voice lowered, the threat in it returning. "Don't screw this up, Rizzoli."

"I don't plan to, Doyle." With that, she clicked the phone off and threw it into her nightstand drawer before shutting the lights off and letting herself fall into a restless sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

Jane pulled her front door open with a huff of irritation and looked around in confusion for a split second before dropping her gaze down to make eye contact with the person who was disturbing her mid-morning nap. "Yeah?"

The intruder didn't bother to stifle her grunt of frustration nor stop her eyes from rolling. "You called for me last night, Ms. Rizzoli."

The taller woman's jaw flexed. "Detective, and you're the personal shopper I called for?" Jane's voice held a cold edge to it as she looked down at the extremely small statured, petite Asian American woman staring up at her through cold, judgmental eyes.

"Yes." Her voice was quiet but full a steely reserve that Jane mentally catalogued as she tried to size up the small woman. "I am Catherine Cho. Neiman's has sent me here, per your request. May I come in?"

'_Neiman's? Well, I suppose that will do, but I'm appalled Doyle knows my shopping habits.' _ The voice in Jane's head began a running commentary of the situation. _'She clearly doesn't want to be here, Jane. I wonder if Doyle coerced her in some way? Maybe you should find out? There might be a way to help her. Wouldn't that be a far better use of the time and actions you've already taken than to move forward with this insane plan of yours?'_

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Jane nodded to the woman and stepped back to allow her in before shutting and locking the front door behind her. As she made her way to the master bedroom, not bothering to see if the supposed personal shopper would follow, she asked, "What's first?"

'_I'm so disappointed in you, Jane.'_

"So am I," the detective muttered as she turned to see her guest appear in the doorway to the bedroom.

"You are what, Detective?" Cho spit the question out.

"Not enjoying this anymore than you are," came the smooth reply as Jane sat down on her bed. "Why are you helping with this?"

"That's for me to know." At the detective's questioning look, Cho replied. "Do you really want to tell me why you want a whole new identity?"

Jane shook her head. "No."

"Fine." The tiny woman removed her jacket and carefully laid it across the back of one of the bedroom chairs. "We'll start with me taking measurements of you, then I want to look at the wigs you have. After that, I'll show you how to wear the contacts I've brought for you, how to properly wear the wig, and how to apply makeup to help further mask your identity." She opened her handbag, pulled out a camera. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

"Jane Rizzoli, Homicide, Badge Number Victor 825." Jane sighed as she stepped around the police tape to make her way to the crime scene.

'_He's going to be here, Maura, and I just know I'm going to slug him.'  
'Please don't contaminate the crime scene, Jane.'_

No one had planned on Jane starting her first day back with an early morning murder, but the criminals didn't get the memo. So, at around four in the morning, the team found themselves with a new case, a cranky Rizzoli, and the start to what promised to be an interesting day.

Jane gave a heavy sigh as her eyes fell to Pike, who was poking randomly at the victim. She groaned and found Frost to give her the rundown. "What do we got?"

"Male. Hispanic. 22." Frost flipped through his notes, keeping his eyes away from the bloody scene. "We found his ID. It says his name is Jessie Cuervo. He lives in this area."

"Cuervo? Really?" She couldn't help but chuckle. "Has Doctor Do-Nothing over there said anything about a possible cause of death yet?"

'_I believe what you meant to say was Doctor Doolittle, the doctor referred to… oh, I see what you did there. Funny, sweetie.'  
'Thank you. I thought so, too.'_

Her chuckle turned into a self-satisfied smirk, and Frost tilted his head at what was really a misplaced facial expression given where they were and what they were currently doing. "I, uh… yeah, Cuervo. But, anyway, we've got the CI people here now, and the uniforms are helping search the area for any additional clues. We haven't found anyone willing to admit to being a witness yet."

Her face fell back to its detective mask as she looked around the area. "A place like this with all these apartments? There's no way someone didn't see or hear something."

He shrugged. "Yeah, but I think they're afraid to speak up."

"I can see that." She pulled on a pair of gloves, turned toward the body, and gave herself a shakedown. "I'm going in, Frost. If you think I'm about to slug him…"

"I'll make sure to check the time before I stop you," he said with a grin.

* * *

"Ah, Detective Rizzoli, you're just in time. I was about to have my technicians remove the body." Pike stood up, gracing her with a smile.

"Great. What do you got?" She squatted down to take a look for herself.

"Oh, the usual for this area," he replied as he motioned for the techs.

'_The usual? He is the most unprofessional man. Jane, you have to do something to get him out of my chair. He'll make a mockery of Medical Examiner's office.'  
'He already makes a mockery of the ME's office, and, besides, what am I going to do? Tell them that I can do a better job because the ghost of my girlfriend is currently living in my head, and she can tell me how to do things?'  
_'_There are no such things as ghosts.'  
__'Yeah, then what the fuc…'_

Pike's voice cut through her thoughts. "Detective? Did you hear me?"

She shook her head. "No. What did you say?"

"I said that I can tell you more once I've done the autopsy. I don't see how you're going to get anything yourself from just poking around at the man." He crossed his arms and gave a huff. "I realize that Doctor Isles allowed you to contaminate…"

Jane shot up, standing to her full height in the blink of an eye. "Do not," she said, voice lowered to a growl as she pointed at him with one gloved and bloodied hand, "_ever _let me catch you saying a bad word about Doctor Isles." The assembled mass of law enforcement officials and media suddenly stopped working, turning to watch the scene. "She was the best medical examiner the Common Wealth has ever had, as evidence by her _many _awards, accolades, and accomplishments. _You _don't compare, and you're lucky I'm a better person for having known Maura because, if I wasn't, you'd have a black eye right now, and I'd be on suspension."

She pulled her gloves off, tossing them into the trash. "Send Susie to me when you get the results." With a final glare, she walked away, leaving everyone, including Pike, to exhale the breath they were holding.

He cleared his throat and caught the eye of Korsak. "A bit touchy, isn't she? Should she be on duty right now?"

"Yeah, she should." Korsak turned to Pike to give him the full weight of the disapproving look on the older detective's face. "And you should pay attention to what she just told you. There's not a single person you're working with now that's going to take kindly to you speaking poorly of Doctor Isles. Maura was a part of our team and a part of our family. You should probably keep that in mind from now on."

"Yes, well," the doctor shifted uncomfortably as he turned away to watch the technicians work. "I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

"You want to grab dinner later?" Frost leaned back in his chair to give himself a little break. The case wasn't pulling up many leads, and they had spent most of the day tracking paper trails.

"Can't," Jane answered absently as she flipped through the victim's credit card statements. "I got a thing tonight."

He narrowed his eyes. "Yeah? What kind of thing?"

'_You're going to lie to him. I hate this.'_

"I'm thinking about maybe grabbing a second job, remember? I got an interview tonight."

'_I didn't lie to him. See? That was the truth.'_

'_To complete the lie.'  
'Maura…'  
'Jane…'_

"Oh, yeah, I remember," he relaxed a bit. "Still hard being alone?"

"Yeah, it sucks." She drained the rest of her coffee. "Maybe some other time? I'm going to go get some more. You want some?"

"Sure." He nodded his thanks and watched her leave. Once he was sure she was out of sight, he walked over to her desk and started looking over what she had up on her computer screen.

"What are you doing? She'll kick your ass if she knows you're snooping." Korsak's voice came out of nowhere.

Frost didn't even flinch. "I think something's wrong," he said as he frantically looked through her search history. "And I don't just mean that Maura's dead. It's something else. Look, she's been doing a lot of research on Jenkins and Sons. She told me she's thinking about getting a second job, she's avoiding spending time with anyone at all, and," he stood up to look around and make sure no one was paying attention to them, "I think she might be hearing voices."

Korsak raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?"

"Yeah, I am, but I don't want to tell anyone besides you until I can figure out what she's up to or what's going on." He opened her desk draw and pulled out a handwritten note. "Why is she talking Dean? She hates Dean." He looked at the older detective. "You see what I mean?"

"She's under a lot of stress, but I don't think she's going crazy Frost. Maybe you're just seeing things?"

"Korsak, I'm only telling you so you can double check me. Look, do me a favor and see what you can about it, okay?" He carefully replaced the note and walked back to his desk after making sure everything was how he had found it. "If I am seeing something that's not there, great. If I'm not, I think we might need to do something because I think she's getting worse."

"Okay," Korsak shrugged. "Can't hurt anything, I guess." He looked down at the notes Frost was furiously making to himself about his partner. "Worse how?"

The younger detective sighed heavily. "This time, when I just checked her browser history, she was looking up how to tell if it's normal to hear voices in your head that you can't control."

Korsak frowned. "Oh boy…"


	23. Chapter 23

"Name?"

"Dawson, Heather Dawson." Jane shifted her weight as she tried to give off an annoyed energy.

'_People pick up on body language faster than they do facial expressions. Recent studies have shown strong indications that, despite the previously held beliefs that facial expressions were a key factor in humans recognizing underlying emotions, it's actually body language that…'  
'Yeah, Maura, I know. I was there when you watched that documentary. I was also there when you listened to that NRP report, **and **I was there when you read the case study they all referenced. You can stop talking now.'  
'If you're going to do this, Jane, I'm at least going to make sure you stay out of as much danger as I'm able to keep you from.'  
'Right, so how about you stop talking to me so I can fully focus, huh?'_

"Name's Toby Parks." He flipped through some papers in his hand. "Yeah, here you are. Says here you're a cop. That right?" Parks was gruff man in his later 30s with a heavy five o'clock shadow, rough features, and, despite his dumpy and ill-fitting clothes, it was obvious his mass was all muscle.

"_Ex_-cop, yeah. I worked for the NYPD for a little bit." She snorted as if indicating her disinterest in her past. Glancing around, she sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes. "Look, you going to interview me or not? I read the want ad. You need someone who knows how to protect stuff, and I'm someone who knows how to do it."

"That so?" He dropped her supposed resume on top of his trashed desk. It mixed with the other papers scattered carelessly about. "If you're so good at protecting stuff, then why'd you get kicked off the force?"

"Yeah, well," she leaned back in the chair, crossing her arms and giving him a hard, angry look, "my partner wasn't so good at protecting stuff, if you catch me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Maybe." For a long moment, he looked her up and down as if trying to gauge her. She sat there, as disinterested and irritated as when she walked in. Finally, he grunted and picked the resume back up. "Why'd you really get kicked off the force?"

She gave another impatient roll of her eyes. "Look, I'll be straight with you. I got kicked off the force because my partner and I were doing a little something on the side. Nothing big, right? We were just trying to get in the extra money our nonexistent bonuses never gave us." She frowned, forcing herself to seem more and more agitated as the story progressed. In reality, she was trying remember details without giving too much detail.

'_People lying often give too much information. They over explain, Jane. That's part of how you can catch someone being less than truthful.'_

"Anyway, IA got wind of it, pulled us both in, and my partner cracked." She gave a wave of her hand. "We got kicked off, press got wind of it, and I skipped town to lay low until it all blows over."

"And you think we'd hire someone like you to work here?" Again, he set the paper down. "We're a family owned business. We have standards here. We're an honest kind of people."

"I don't care if you sell crack to 6 year olds on Sunday after church," she spat out, sounding angry and feeling angrier. "I need a job, and I want to work the nightshift. I got a lot of experience taking people down, I've done bodyguard work, and how many people can you say actually want to work the overnights, huh?"

He chuckled to himself. "Crack to 6 year olds on Sunday?" She shrugged. "You really don't give a rat's ass, do you, Ms. Dawson?"

"Dawson. Just Dawson, and, no," she unfolded her arms, reclining more easily into her chair, "I really don't. My job's shot. My rep's out the window, and I really don't have anything left." It was more true than she wanted to let on. "Work's all I got, and, right now, I don't even have that. You give me a job, and I'll be the best employee you got."

"How do I know you won't try to do something dirty on the side like you did with your previous job?" He cocked his head to the side, waiting for the right answer.

"First of all, I don't have any connections here, so it's not like I could start something up. Second of all, I'm not looking to make any. I'm trying to lay low, remember. Third of all," she licked her lips, trying to find the answer he was looking for, "the reason I was doing something on the side to begin with was because they weren't paying me enough for the shit I had to put up with on a daily basis. I checked the ad. You pay good, your benefits are better than NYPD's, and, as long as you do right by me and give me a chance to move up, then I don't have a reason to screw with you."

"Move up?" Both of his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Who said anything about moving up? This is a security guard job for the overnight."

"I did." She crossed her legs, resting her left foot on top of her right knee. "You give me this job, and you'll see I'm worth eventually moving up the ranks, maybe becoming the foreman for the security guards or something." She smirked, giving him her best cocky attitude. "I'm the best you'll ever have."

He laughed. "Oh, I doubt that, Ms. Dawson."

"Dawson, just Dawson." She raised an eyebrow. "You going to give me the job or what?"

"I ain't never hired a blonde chick to work security before." He eyed her, clearing liking what he saw in more ways than one. "Is it true what they say about being a blonde?"

"It's not more fun, I'm not a ditz, and, if you ask me to jump up and down while wearing next to nothing, I'll kick you in your balls so hard your future children will feel it," she snapped and mentally patted herself on the back for being able to stay in character.

He nodded his approval. "Okay, Dawson. I'll give you a chance. Be here at 9PM sharp tomorrow night. Wear all black. That's our uniform standard. You don't get a polo until you've been with us for a month." He stood, and she followed his lead. "Bring your paperwork back with you so we can pay you. Paydays are every Friday. Cash only."

"Works for me," she shrugged as she followed him to the door. "Don't have a bank account anyway." She grunted. "Froze my assets in the bust."

"Yeah?" His eyes traveled down her body. "You don't look cold to me." He grinned at her.

She stopped dead in her tracks, quickly reached forward, and grabbed the area between his legs, giving a quick squeeze. "Yeah? Feels to me like you're a little on the cold side." She dropped her hand, making a show of wiping it along her thigh. "And mine are bigger, just so you know."

For a split second, she thought she'd gone too far and she was about to either be assaulted or told not to bother coming back in the following night. But, after the initial surprise left his face, his grin turned into a smirk. "You'll do fine here, Dawson. Don't be late."

* * *

"What is _he _doing here?" Angela leaned over to whisper to Korsak as she handed him his morning cup of coffee.

He glanced back behind him and then turned quickly around again. "I have no idea, but I'm about to find out." He passed her some money, picked up his coffee, and made a beeline for the man in questions. "Dean, you look lost."

"Sargent," Agent Dean gave a curt nod. "Did the department remodel?"

"Doctor Isles," Korsak answered as if that would explain it all away.

It seemed to be enough. Dean simply nodded, accepting it as an answer unto itself. "Listen, I came here looking for Jane. I have some information that I thought she might want about a case she's working."

"Which one?" The detective carefully sipped his coffee.

"The Todd case. I got some information I thought she might want." Dean shrugged as he handed a manila envelope over to the older man. "I thought maybe," he shook his head. "I'm just trying to do the right thing for Jane."

Korsak took the envelope, narrowing his eyes in thought. "What do you mean by that?"

"I get that I messed up, but I like her as a person, and, if I can help her, well," he gave another shrug, "I figured maybe I should. I'd like to eventually get back on her good side again."

"She hates you, you know." Angela's voice surprised both men. Korsak actually jump, swishing hot coffee onto his hand. "You can't bribe Jane into being some buddy-buddy friend with you, and, if you think you can snake your way back into her bed, then…"

"Mrs. Rizzoli," Dean held a hand up to stop her tirade. "I'm not trying to do anything but help her. If she's going to do this, then she might as well have all the information she can. She's going to need it, and I don't think I could deal if I knew I had something she needed that might keep her that much safer while she's working. So," he pointed to the envelope. "There it is. I still care about Jane… a lot. I care enough to put my job on the line." He blew out a puff of air. "Just give that to her, okay?" Dean waited for Korsak to nod, and, when he did, the agent turned and left without another word.

"He's slime," Angela commented with disdain. "What do you suppose he really wanted?"

Korsak shrugged. "Who knows? I'm going to go upstairs and see what this is all about." He held the envelope up. "See you tonight for dinner?"

"Yeah, sure," she frowned but didn't push him to tell her what he was thinking.

* * *

"You look like hell," Frost said as Jane slipped down into her office chair.

"Thank you," she grumbled. "You're charming as ever."

"I'm just saying that you," he glanced up to see Korsak walking in with coffee and an envelope in his hand. He nodded to the senior detective and then continued on, "don't look like you slept at all last night. How'd the interview go?"

She shrugged. "We'll see." Jane yawned loudly, her eyes watering a bit. "Man, that coffee smells good. Hey, Korsak, you bring any for the rest of us?"

He dropped everything onto this desk. "Nope. You're on your own, Rizzoli. Why don't you go get you some? You look like you could use a cup."

"Yeah, I think I will." She pushed back and stumbled out of the bullpen.

"Frost," Korsak walked over with the envelope in hand. "Had an interesting run-in with Agent Dean a couple of minutes ago. Said to give this to Jane." He handed the envelope to the younger man. "Said it was information to help her on a case she was working on."

Frost looked confused. "Which case?"

"The Todd case." Korsak frowned and quickly relayed the entire conversation. "I think you're right. She's up to something, and I think we better find out what before something happens that no one can fix. Now that the doc's not here…"

"Yeah, I know." Frost opened the envelope and looked through the papers. "This isn't the Todd case. This is about Jenkins and Sons." He scowled. "That's the place she asked me to help investigate, and that's the she went to interview with last night."

The older detective scoffed. "Interview? What does she need a second job for?"

"She doesn't. Okay, you and me need to talk about this and everything we both know, but not here. You got dinner plans tonight?" Frost glanced back to the door, jaw flexing. "She's coming back in. Whatever you're planning, cancel it and meet me at my place at 7:30."

"What are you two old ladies gossiping about," Jane shouted as she walked in, coffee in hand.

"Thank god you're here, Jane. Korsak's trying to bore me to death with stories about how cute his dogs were last night," Frost threw the other man a look.

The sergeant nodded. "Yeah, well, if you'd seen them, then you'd know. Whatever. There's no pleasing you two." With a shrug and final look of confirmation thrown toward Frost, Korsak took his seat again.

* * *

**Reviews are the thing that feeds my inner muse. Just saying'**


	24. Chapter 24

"Why?" Frost barged into Gabriel Dean's cubicle and smacked the envelope down on his desk. "You lied to Korsak. This isn't about the Todd case, is it?"

The FBI agent glanced around to see if anyone was listening, and, when he was satisfied no one was bothering, he calmly replied, "I asked the sergeant to give that to Jane, not to you."

"Yeah, well, I'm her partner, and I think it's about time someone told me what she's up to because this," Frost pointed to the envelope, "has nothing to do with a closed case."

There was a long silence as the two men stood off against each other. Finally, Dean nodded, stood up, and motioned for the other man to follow him. They walked quickly and quietly through the FBI offices and into a small room that was clearly used for questioning suspects. As the door quickly clicked shut behind him, Dean turned to lean against the wall, hands stuck in his pockets.

"After the funeral," he began in his typical quiet, even tone, "I went to see Jane."

"Okay," Frost crossed his arms and waited, eyes hard with determination.

"She didn't waste a lot of time asking me what I wanted, and I didn't waste a lot of time telling her. I was there about Paddy Doyle. I thought he might have shown up at Maura's funeral, and, since his escape from custody the last time, I've been trying to track him. I've gotten close a few times, but," Dean shrugged.

"You went to ask Jane about Doyle the day after she had to bury Maura?" The detective was seething, and gave an audible growl as the FBI agent gave a simple nod yes. "You're a bastard. You know that?"

"That's what you people keep telling me," was the even keel response. "We cut a deal. She gave me some inside information on Doyle, and, in response, I gave her some inside information on Tommy O'Toole."

Frost shook his head in confusion. "Tommy O'Toole? Why would she want information on him?"

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he internally debated with himself as to how much he was willing to tell. Finally, he settled his conscience. "Because O'Toole is the reason Maura is dead."

"I think you need to tell me everything you know." Frost sat down in one of the chairs and pointed to the other. "Right. Now."

* * *

"Hey, Korsak," Jane stood up, stretching out as she pulled her jacked from the back of her chair, "if Frost can leave early, how come I can't?"

"He went to run an errand for the office." The older detective gave her a thoughtful look. "You been getting enough sleep, Jane?"

"You've been spending too much time with Ma," she grumbled as she pulled the jacket on and sat down again at her desk. "Is it cold in here?"

'_Lack of sleep can lead to lowered immune systems, can lead to an increase in the likelihood of sickness, which, in turn, can lead to the body feeling…'  
'THANK YOU, talking google, I can fill in the blanks. You think I'm getting sick.'  
'I think you need to rest, Jane.'  
'There ain't no rest for the wary, sweetie.' _

"No, it's fine." He thought back to everything he and Frost had talked about the night before as he watched her face contort as if she were having a conversation he wasn't privy to. Now that he was watching for it, he was seeing what Frost had said he thought he saw, and it worried the older man.

Of course, Korsak knew why Jane was tired. She had a new night job that she hadn't bothered to mention to anyone but Frost, and Korsak was starting to wonder what else she had going on that she wasn't bothering to mention to anyone at all. "You look tired, Jane."

"I _am _tired, Korsak." She ran a hand across her face, rubbing at her eyes. "It's been a rough few weeks, you know?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I know. Listen, if you need to go home to try to catch some sleep…"

"No, I'm good." She stood up again, rubbing at her arms as if trying to warm them up. "I just need some coffee. You want any?"

"No, thanks. Tell Angela hi for me."

She grunted in reply as she walked out of the room.

With a heavy frown on his face, Korsak stood with the intent of snooping around Jane's desk, but his cell rang and cut him off. "Frost, what's up?"

"_Korsak, I'm sitting with Dean, and you need to hear this…"_

* * *

"Dawson!"

Jane growled under her breath. It'd been two weeks, and she wasn't making any friends. The truck driver she'd been assigned to was a pain in the ass, and he kept hitting on her. She kept shooting him down, but the routine was starting to get old.

To make things worse, she knew the powers that be were testing her. She'd been given a few petty things to do here or there just to see if she'd do them without asking too many questions, and some of the other 'security guards' were giving her hard looks. Apparently, she was doing a better job of not asking questions than they were.

Between her day job and this new night job, she was wearing down quickly, and her body protested the constant stream of coffee, energy drinks, and other assorted legal stimulates she was pumping herself full of to be able to keep up.

She was tired, it was getting harder and harder for her to focus her mind, her nerves were completely frayed, and she was starting to wonder if she was going to get any breaks to get closer than she was to O'Toole.

"What do you want, Parks?" She stopped walking through the truck yard and turned to wait for him to make it to her. "You're going to make me late. Sibling is an ass already without you giving him a reason to be more of one."

"You're off his truck," Parks said as he came to a stop in front of her.

"What? Why?" She was shell shocked. "Are you firing me?"

"No," he shook his head. "I'm firing _him_. He botched a job this afternoon, and I can't have people who can't follow directions working for me."

"Great," she rolled her eyes. "So what do I do now? If I don't have a truck to watch, then what?"

"I got a job for you," he motioned for her to follow him. "You can follow directions, right?"

'_Is he testing you, Jane?'  
'Looks like it.'  
'I don't like this. It could be dangerous.'  
'Oh yeah, it's going to be dangerous.'_

"Yeah, I can follow directions," she said as they walked into his office and closed the door. "What do you got?"

"I got a package that needs to be delivered to a guy," Parks said while he rummaged in his desk, pulling out a small package wrapped in plain brown paper. "You deliver this tonight with a message, and we'll see just how good you might be for other directions that need following."

"Yeah?" She eyed the package, weighing her options. "You got a pair of gloves?"

"I could maybe let you borrow a pair. It's chilly enough outside to wear them," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Then I can maybe deliver your package," she said. Leaning back on the chair and giving off her best nonchalant attitude, she said with her own smirk firmly in place. "What's the message?"

He nodded, clearly pleased with her. "The message is simple. You tell the person you're going to give this to that the next time it won't be what's in this box."

She raised an eyebrow in question. "That it?"

He gave her a hard look. "You asking for details?"

Jane held her hands up. "No, I'm not. The less I know the better. Got an address and a name?"

"Yeah." Again, he gave her a pleased look. "Be quick and discreet about it, Dawson, and get your ass back here after you've delivered this." He handed her a pair of gloves and a piece of paper. "Got it?"

She pulled the gloves on and picked the box up. "Yeah, I got it. I'll be back in a few."

* * *

"She's going to go after Tommy O'Toole," Korsak said as he paced the small FBI interrogation room.

After couple of weeks of piecing together everything he, Frost, and Dean knew along with the men tailing her for a few nights, Jane's plan was starting to become a lot clearer. None of them liked what they saw.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking," Frost nodded as he watched the older detective pace. "We have to stop her."

"How are you going to do that?" Dean gave a heavy sigh of resignation. "It's not as though you can walk up to her and tell her we know what she's planning."

Korsak stopped pacing. "Why not? If we do, maybe she'll stop if she knows her cover is blown?"

"No, Dean's right," Frost answered as he ran through his notes for the fourth time that night. "If we just confront her, she'll deny it, and we can't prove anything. You know how she is, Korsak. She'll just find another way of doing it. We have to figure out how to make her see that this is a bad idea."

The room filled with silence as they all considered options, but it was obvious none of them had a decent enough idea to even bother to propose it.

"If Maura were here, she could do it." The older detective sat down again. "The doc had a way of getting Jane to calm down."

"But she's not here," Dean pointed out. "She can't help us."

"If she _were _here," Frost said in a defeated tone, "none of this would be happening anyway. Man," he shook his head, "I just… every time I think about Maura, I think about the day it happened." The other two men were quiet, sensing that the younger man just needed to say whatever was on his mind. "I've _never _seen Jane as upset and broken as the day they told her Maura was gone. You know, I still can't believe they weren't going to let her see Maura's body. It's not like Jane hasn't been in a morgue before."

Dean gave a confused look. "They let her see the body?"

"Yeah, _eventually_," Frost gave a shrug. "They said they had to get a couple of special permissions first."

"Was that because her face was badly marred from the shooting, and they weren't sure if they wanted to allow Jane to see Maura that way?" The FBI agent's concern was genuine.

Frost gave him an annoyed look. "No, Maura wasn't shot in the face. She was shot in the chest. They said something about having to get permission for non-hospital people to go down to the hospital's morgue, which I guess makes sense since people who don't work at the hospital can't touch the bodies down there."

Korsak narrowed his eyes. "Who said that?"

"Jane said the doctor in charge of the hospital morgue said that." Frost gave another shrug.

The older detective shot a look towards Dean. "You know, it was a closed casket service."

"I know," Dean nodded. "That's why I assumed she had been shot in the head." He gave a thoughtful run of his hand across his chin.

Korsak nodded, his brain working overtime. "You know any US Marshals?"

"I could pull a few strings," Dean answered in a quiet, thoughtful voice.

"Wait a minute," Frost cut in. "What, _exactly_, are you two saying? Are you saying what I _think_ you're saying?"

"I'm saying I need to make a phone call." Gabriel stood and pulled his cell out. "Give me a few. It's nearly 11 at night, and my contact normally hates it when I call her after her bedtime."

He scrolled through his phone and hit talk. They waited in silence for a few before Dean finally started speaking. "Annie? It's Dean. I got a favor to ask. Yeah, I know it's late, but I'm sort of hoping you're in the Boston area right now. What? No, not that kind of favor…"

* * *

**Reviews. I needs them. They, like coffee, keep me going. ;-)**


	25. Chapter 25

"She's doing this a personal favor to me," Dean said as the men walked into a little all-night diner just down the street from the FBI Agency building. "We're lucky she was even here. She's stationed in Houston."

"Houston?" Korsak slid into one side of a booth with Frost while Dean took the opposite side. "What's she doing all the way up here?"

"Research," came a quiet voice, thick with a heavy Texas accent. "What you're really lucky about is that I was awake when he called." A tall, thin blonde woman slid into the booth next to Dean. "I was fixin' to go to bed when my cell went off."

"Annie," Dean gave a cordial nod hello. "Thanks for meeting us so late at night."

"Early in the morning is what I think you mean, and don't thank me for anything, Gabe. I owe you one. This is it." She flagged the waitress down, and they all ordered coffee. When the coffee was served, she took a slow sip before finally breaking the silence. "I did a little digging around."

Korsak frowned. "And?"

"And you know I could lose my job if anyone finds out that I said anything," she growled out.

"You have our word," Frost assured her. "No one will ever know whatever it is you're going to tell us, but, if it will help us stop Jane from doing something dangerous and stupid, we really need to hear it."

"Right," she raised an eyebrow and glanced to the FBI agent. "Lover?"

"No," he actually chuckled. "Partner."

"No kidding?" She shook her head. "They're starting them out young these days as detectives, aren't they?"

Korsak chuckled and nodded. Frost's jaw flexed with his effort not to snap at her. He let out a grunt before asking, "Look, can you help us or not?"

"Kind of," she answered while she swirled her coffee around in her cup. "I got an answer, but you're not going to like it."

"I already don't like that sound of that," Korsak said before finishing off his cup.

"Whatever you can give us, Annie," Dean encouraged with a gentle tone.

She pulled in a deep breath and seemed to stamp down her uncertainty. With a sure hand, she pulled a few folded pieces of paper from her pocket and handed them to Frost. "This is what I've got."

He eyed them before slowly unfolding one of the sheets. Printed there in color was a picture of a petite woman wearing jeans, a slightly baggy t-shirt, and carrying what looked like a canvas bag full of groceries. He stared it, trying to make sense of what his mind was telling him, trying to reconcile it all. Finally, his eyes still wide with shock, he said in a dumbfounded tone, "It's Maura."

"No," Annie said with a slow shake of her head. "If I were a person who knew things, and I'm not saying I am, I'd say that pretty little red head right there is Debbie Oscar." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. "If I was a person who knew things, I might say she lives somewhere near my home state."

Korsak narrowed her eyes. "Somewhere _near _your home state? You don't know _where_?"

She sighed. "The database is particular, and I couldn't track much more than that without getting myself flagged." She shrugged. "It's the best I've got unless you know someone who can hack my system, but," she held her hand up, "if you do, don't tell me and don't involve me."

"This is going to destroy her," Frost mumbled as he flipped through the pages of printed color pictures of the red head with the familiar face. "Jane will never believe it."

"You'll have to bring her back to Boston," Dean said with a frown. "Jane's always been a 'show me' kind of girl."

Annie scoffed at the man next to her. "You're not going to help them with this, are you?"

He shook his head. "No, this is as far as I go. Whatever else you two do, I have to be out of it. I've already risked too much."

The older of the two detectives gave a nod of appreciation. "Thanks."

"Yeah," Frost carefully folded the paper and tucked it away in his suit coat's inside pocket. "Thanks for the help." He offered his hand to the blonde. "Do we get to know your name?"

She took his hand, gave it a shake, and pulled back with a smirk on her face. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

The younger detective laughed. "Yeah, seems fair." He shrugged. "This is Vince Korsak, and I'm Barry Frost."

Both eyebrows lifted up in surprise as she glanced to Dean to confirm she'd heard the man correctly. Dean only nodded yes. She smiled and said, "Annie Nolan Frost."

* * *

"You look like hell," Jane said as she plopped down in her chair, wincing slightly as she bounced from the impact. From her vantage point, her partner looked like he was about to pass out, and it was only 8:30 in the morning.

"Had a long night," he answered with a groan.

"Hot date?" She asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, something like that," he shot back before leaning back to stretch. "You look like death yourself. Long day at work last night?"

She shrugged. "Trucker I was working with got canned, so they had me running errands last night." She flipped her computer monitor on and turned her eyes away from Frost. "Just a boring night, you know?"

_'I'd hardly call it boring, Jane.'  
'Shut it.'  
'You nearly got killed, and I know that wound on your side is bothering you. You should see a doctor.'  
'It's a little cut from a knife. That's all. I'm fine.'  
'You're exhausted. Your health is deteriorating, and I'm worried about you.'  
'You're not real.'  
'You hurt me, Jane.'  
'No, Maura. I hurt myself.'_

Jane made a face and shifted in chair. It was clear she was done talking for the morning.

Frost shrugged and gave her an uneasy look. "Yeah, I guess."

* * *

"Korsak," Frost waited until Jane went to lunch and then pulled the senior detective into the BRICS. "I got to make a phone call, and I think you want to be here for it."

Korsak nodded. "Is it about the thing?"

"Yeah," the younger man pulled his cell out. "I'm not good enough to crack that database, but I know someone who is. He work at the Naval base in Quantico."

"Know him through your mom?" Korsak took a seat and waited.

"Yeah, he and mom know each through some weird connection with some case involving the murder of a Navy recruiter at a college fair at some local high school." Frost flipped through his phone. "My mom was there to talk to seniors about her college when it happened, and think she was questioned or something. I don't all the details," he put the phone on speaker after making sure the door was locked, "but I know that's how they met. Plus, he and I play MMOs together."

Korsak grunted. "You mean those games where you get points to win things but no one knows what you win?"

Frost shot him a hard look.

_"Hello?"_ The voice on the other end of the line was chipper.

"Tim," Frost greeted him with a warm tone. "I'm calling you back, bro."

_"Hey Barry," _Tim's voice lowered in volume. _"You've got good timing. I was just about to take my lunch."_

"Yeah, I figured."

_"I took the info you gave me last night, and I think I got something, but I don't know how to get it to you without… you know."_

Korsak smiled. "I know how."

_"Uh, who's that?"_

"_That _is the other guy I was telling you about." Frost rolled his eyes but made a motion for Korsak to continue.

"Korsak here. I know how you can get it to us. I got a PO Box. Think you can overnight it?"

Frost raised an eyebrow. "You have a PO Box? _Why _do you have a… You know what? Don't tell me. I don't want to know. It's probably where you get all your porn delivered or something."

_"Yeah, I can do that. If you give me your info, I can go mail it off right now."_

Frost let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Tim. I owe you one, man."

_"Just remember, I want everything you have on my guy."_

"Consider it done. Tony won't know what hit him."

Korsak narrowed an eye and tilted his head. Shaking it, he said, "I don't want to know. Okay Tim, my PO Box is…"

* * *

"Dawson, it's about time you got your scrawny ass in here."

Jane rolled her eyes and tried to stifle a yawn before downing the rest of her energy drink and tossing it haphazardly into the trash can near her. "Parks, I'm on time. What are you bitching about?"

"Never late?" He gave her a knowing smirk. "Not even once?"

"I don't do that kind of late." She shoved her hands in her jean pockets and locked him down with a steely gaze. "My eggs don't get fertilized."

"Damn, Dawson, I knew you were rigid. I didn't know you were _that _rigid. Maybe we ought to start calling you Frost?" He laughed at his own joke.

It took everything Jane had not to make a face. Instead, she rolled her eyes. "I don't swing that way, Parks. You got a problem with it, I don't give a shit."

"Yeah?" He stopped laughing and looked her up and down. "Go figure. All the good ones are lesbians." He grunted and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "How's that side of yours?"

She shrugged. "I'll live."

_'This time. But what about next time? This is too dangerous. You've got to stop, Jane.'  
'Why? There's no reason for me to stop now. Besides, I'm in too deep. If I stop now, they'll know something's up.'_

Parks shook his head. "You're lucky he didn't get more than your side. What happened to all that cop training?"

"No one trains you to watch out for a guy with a blade where his middle finger should be. How about a little warning next time, huh?" She gave her best scowl.

"Maybe," he said as he held a piece of paper out to her. "Got another message for you to deliver tonight since you did such a good job last night."

"Great." She took the paper from him and unfolded it as she spoke. "Does this guy have a gun for a dick?"

"Don't think so, but you can always check if you decide you want to see how the other half lives." He laughed at her disgusted look. "Guy lives on the docks. You think you can handle it?"

"Yeah," she stuffed the instructions into her coat pocket and gave a smirk. "I got this. When do I get my polo?"

"You come back from this one, Dawson, and you'll get a lot more than polo," he answered with a twinkle in his eye. "You got potential, woman. Don't disappoint me."

She nodded and turned to leave, ignoring the voice in her mind pleading with her to stop.

* * *

**Thank you for the reviews last chapter. I would really love to hear your thoughts on this chapter as well. ****J**


	26. Chapter 26

"Rizzoli," Korsak strolled into the office at lunch time carrying a plain, brown envelope in his hand, "why aren't you on lunch yet?"

"You know, Korsak, just because you're dating Ma doesn't mean you get to play the role of my," she stopped herself, realizing exactly how tacky her sentence was starting to turn.

'_You should be ashamed, Jane. That man has been nothing but good to you.'  
'I know. It's just because I'm so tired.'  
'The wound on your side is infected. You're running a temperature. You really ought to see at…'_

The younger detective cleared her throat and shift, trying not to wince as pain shot through her side. "You're right. I should probably go grab something to eat. You two eat yet?"

Frost glanced to Korsak, who gave him a quick look that said the answer to Jane's question should be 'yes'. He sigh, "Yeah, I grabbed something when I went to grab the lab results. I'm good. Thanks, though."

"Angela's got me covered," Korsak answered with a smirk, chuckling as Jane made a face at him.

"Whatever. I'll be back in 60."

Both men waited until she was well out of sight before Korsak pulled up a chair to Frost's desk and handed him the unopened package. "This was in my PO box. That friend of yours wasn't kidding when he said he'd have this to us the next day. What kind of connections does he have?"

Frost took the package and started to carefully open it. "He works for NCIS. Let's just leave it at that." He pulled out a bundle of papers. There were more color photos of a redheaded woman bearing a striking resemblance to a certain supposedly deceased honey haired medical examiner they both knew, a few pages listing work schedules, locations, and background information on Debbie Oscar, and a notation on some odd quirks the woman had that made putting her into the program difficult. "I can't believe this." The young detective shook his head slowly from side to side as he handed each photo and piece of paper to the older man by his side after carefully inspecting it himself. "This is going to either break Jane completely or bring her back. I don't know which."

"I think she's doing a pretty damned good job of breaking herself, if you ask me." Korsak let the final piece of paper drop to the desk below. "You have to go get her."

"And how are we going to get me down there to," Frost checked the paperwork again and groaned, "Alabama without," he held his hand up and stuck fingers out as he counted, "One - me getting hurt trying to get back, Two – Jane being suspicious that I left in the middle of an open and current case, and Three – the US Marshals not arresting me for messing with a person under their protection?"

"I'll tell her that I sent you on a special assignment, and she can deal with it. I know you two forget, but I _am _your superior." Korsak began picking everything up and placing it back into the envelope. "The rest you can handle. The US Marshals won't have her under surveillance all the time. They'll just check on her periodically and at random. You should be fine to just go down there and find her, and I know you'll make it back here fine."

"Yeah?" The young man raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Why's that?"

"Because," Korsak stood, pushing the chair he was in back to its place, and thrusting the full envelope into Frosts hands, "Jane needs you to."

* * *

"Thank you for calling Wills, Swanson, and Charms, Associates at Law. How may I direct your call?" The receptionist sighed as she quickly pushed a few buttons and forwarded the line over to one of the three lawyers she worked for.

Business was slow. There wasn't a lot of immigration work happening in Birmingham, Alabama, and, though her employers were nice people to work for, her job was mind numbingly boring.

She blew out a frustrated puff of air and went back to surfing the internet. Window shopping via the world wide web for shoes that cost more than three months' worth of pay was one of the few ways she had learned to pass the time as the receptionist and sometimes administrative assistant for the tiny law firm.

The phone rang again, and the annoyed her. Usually, she only had three or four calls a day. Two within a few minutes of each other was practically unheard of.

"Thank you for calling Wills, Swanson, and Charms, Associates at Law. How may I direct your call?"

"_Deb? It's Gina."_

The redhead smiled. "Oh, hello Regina! How was lunch with Emma?"

"_It was fine, dear. We went to that little Mexican place on the corner. In fact, we're about to come back. Do you want us to bring you something?"_

Debbie Oscar made a disgusted face she was very thankful no one could see. "Oh, that's kind of you to offer, Regina, but I'll pass this time. I _am_ glad you called. Someone called for Ms. Swan… erm Emma just a moment ago. I sent it to voicemail. I hadn't realized she was already gone."

"_Yes, Emma is good at sneaking away when she wants to. I think she was a gypsy in another life."_ Debbie smirked at the annoyed yet humored tone Regina took as she spoke about her partner and spouse. At least, they _would _be considered married if not for the laws in the state. Despite herself, Debbie gave a heavy sigh. _"Is something wrong, dear?"_

"Oh, nothing more than the usual," the receptionist winced. She hated it when her mind wandered like that.

"_I know it's slow. It will pick up. Just give it a bit of time. This is always the slow period for our area of law." _Regina's voice was kind and understanding. _"Are you certain we can't bring something back for you?"_

"Well," the redhead pursed her lips in thought.

"Is that Gina?" The male voice in the room startled her, and she nearly dropped the phone. "Sorry, Deb. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay Mr. Charms. I just didn't see you there." She gave him an apologetic look.

"My fault entirely. I should have warned you I was there, and it's James or Jim, if you like." He smiled brightly at the young woman. "But _is _that Gina?"

"Yes," she nodded and waited for instruction.

"Great! Tell her to bring me back a super burrito with extra hot sauce." He waggled his eyebrows in excitement.

"_I heard him." _Regina sounded less than enthused. _"I hope he plans to be gone the remainder of the day. Jim is less than,"_ she paused and gave a slight grunt. The sound of Emma's voice saying something filtered in but was too muffled to make out. _"charming after he's had one of those monstrosities. What about you, dear?"_

The redhead smirked. "I think, perhaps, a diet soda would be lovely, and thank you again for offering."

"You should really try coffee some time, Deb," Jim said with his gleaming smile still in place. "It's so much better than that diet stuff you drink."

"Perhaps," she replied as she hung the phone up, "but I believe I shall take my chances today."

* * *

"This is insane," Frost mumbled under his breath as he walked to the airport with his carryon rolling along behind him. "An overnight flight, a hotel room in _Birmingham, Alabama_, and I just hope I make it back in time."

He grunted as he checked the time and started rushing to his gate.

* * *

"This is insane," Jane said as she looked at the polo in her hand. "It's not black. It's _pink_. I _do not_ wear pink." She chunked it back at the man chuckling at her from behind his desk. "I'm not a Barbie Doll, Parks. I don't wear pink, I don't prance around half naked, and I don't roll over on command."

'_I didn't realize you could be this vulgar, Jane.'  
'Really? What about all that language I used to use when we were fu…'  
'Please don't degrade what we had.'  
'Sorry.'_

"Come on, Dawson! I got in your size and everything. At least try it on." He winked.

She snorted. "Why don't _you _try it on?"

"Because you're half the size I am." He shrugged and threw it back at her.

Jane let it land in her lap, refusing to even touch it. "Where the fuck is my black polo, Parks? You told me last night that, if I did that drop right, I'd get my polo. Where's my damned polo?"

"_Feisty, isn't she?"_ A male voice floated through the speaker of the phone on Parks's desk.

"I told you you'd like her, Boss." He smiled at Jane and nodded toward the phone. "Boss here wants to chat with you, Dawson. Don't give him any attitude. Just answer his questions. Got it?"

"Boss?" She frowned deeply, crossing her arms. "What do you mean 'boss'? You mean like Tony Jenkins? I thought he was in Maine on vacation or something."

"_I thought she was smarter than this, Parks." _The voice sounded disgusted.

Jane decided to just go for it. "Oh, wrong boss. This must be," she drew the word out to make it seem like she was considering her options for a moment, "Tommy O'Toole, then."

"See? Told you she was a sharp one." Her boss sounded proud, as if he were talking about a prized student and not a really talented thug.

"_What makes you think, Ms. Dawson, that who you say I am is who I am?"_ The voice sounded guarded.

She leaned back in her chair. She'd prepared for this possible eventuality. "I did my research before I moved down here. I know there are two big mob names in Boston. There's Tommy O'Toole and Paddy Doyle. I got my sources in New York who know a thing or two about Boston, and they told me Doyle is MIA right now because the FBI is hot on him after his biological daughter was shot. They thought he was going to show up at her funeral, and they're on high alert because they think he's going to come out of the woodwork to avenge his daughter's death, or whatever. So, there's no way he'd chance even a phone call on a burn phone to talk to a low level grunt right now."

She gave a rough chuckle. "He didn't stay alive this long by being stupid. So, if you're not Doyle, and you can't be because he's disappeared somewhere, then you have to be O'Toole."

"_Why can't I be one of his 'grunts'?"_

"Because every good boss, mob or otherwise, always interviews every employee they hire if they decide they want to move them up in the organization. You got to know who you're bringing onto your A team, and I'm good. Like I told Parks, I'm the best. You _want _me on your A team." She gave the man across from her a wickedly confident smirk.

The room was filled with silence for a few very long minutes, and then the voice laughed. _"Give the woman her polo, Parks, and then send her on her next run."_

"You got it, Boss," Parks said as he tossed a black polo at Jane and ended the call. "Remember what I said, Dawson. Don't disappoint me."

"It's all good, Parks," Jane said as she caught the shirt. "Let me go put this on, and I'll come back ready to do whatever."

"Don't take long. This one is going to take a while," he yelled at her before his office door shut behind her.

* * *

The bright morning sun shone in through the front windows and glass door of Wills, Swanson, and Charms. The receptionist area was neat, tidy, clean, and everything perfectly placed where it ought to be before the first lawyer set foot inside their tiny office.

The first was a very tired looking Emma Swanson, who stood staring around her as she sipped her morning hot chocolate. "I don't think I've ever seen this place this clean. Did we get a new cleaning lady?"

"No," Debbie shot her a bright smile. "I arrived early today, and I thought I'd do a little light cleaning."

"This is your idea of light cleaning?" The blonde glanced around again. "Maybe we should hire you to clean the place, too." She took another sip of her beverage. "You sure you weren't a cleaning lady before you starting working as an administrative assistant?"

"Oh yes," the redhead nodded seriously, "I'm very sure. I've never been a person employed in the cleaning industry."

Emma laughed. "Do you always take things so seriously, Deb?"

"Oh? Was that a joke? I'm sorry. When I'm… nervous or new to something I'm afraid I don't pick up well on subtle humor or sarcasm." The older woman winced in apology.

"Don't worry about it. You've only been here a little while; you'll get used to us. Listen, when Gina comes in, will you ask her to swing by my office? She forgot her wallet when she left to drop the kid off at school, and I want to give it back to her and talk to her about a couple of our clients."

"Of course," Debbie wrote a note to herself as a reminder. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Nope," Emma grinned as she headed to the back. "Just keep doing what you're doing, ma'am."

With a shake of her head and an amused smile on her face, the redhead went back to looking online at 2,000 dollar shoes.

* * *

**Bet you peeps are excited to see Debbie meet Frost, huh?**


	27. Chapter 27

"Okay, this is it." Frost gave himself a mental shakedown as he ran a hand over his clothes, making sure there were no wrinkles and everything lined up correctly. "I'm either about to do something really stupid or really brave." Taking in a deep breath, he walked up to the office in the small strip mall and pulled the glass door open.

* * *

"Thank you for calling Wills, Swanson, and Charms. How may I direct your call?" Debbie glanced quickly up, not really noting who the person was that just walked in, and motioned for them to take a seat while she handled the call.

She noted the gentleman comply via her peripheral vision as she looked at her monitor. "I apologize, Mr. Rauf, but Ms. Wills and Ms. Swanson are both unable to take your call at this moment. I can transfer you to one of their voicemails or I'll happily take a… I'm sorry?" Her face grew colder as she listened to the caller. "How did you end up there?"

She rolled her eyes. "I see. It would help you to remember, Mr. Rauf, that those activities are not considered legal in most states in this union. No, I will not provide you with such a list. With all due respect, sir, I am Ms. Wills, Ms. Swanson, and Mr. Charms's administrative assistant. I am not yours, and I will do no such thing. I can and will, however, let Ms. Wills know of your current situation. She'll be by to assist you when she's able to step away from her current appointment."

She gave a heavy sigh. "No, I cannot say how this will affect your application status. Immigration law is not my area of expertise, and I don't speculate, make guesses or assumptions."

The gentleman laughed loudly, and she finally looked up to meet the warm, friendly brown eyes of someone she thought she could possibly never see again. The phone dropped to her desk. "Barry?"

* * *

Her voice was weak, eyes filling with unshed tears as she tried to process what she was seeing. "I… I… you can't be here. You shouldn't be here."

"You should finish up that call, talk to your boss, and then take a break." He stood, walking to stand in front of her desk. "We need to talk. Jane's in trouble."

She nodded and numbly picked up the phone. She placed it to her ear and immediately pulled it back slightly. "Mr. Rauf," she said in a slightly elevated tone, "I will tell Ms. Wills. There's no need for that kind of language. Good day, sir." With that, she hung the phone up. "I need to go speak with Regina. Give me a moment."

He nodded and returned to his place in the waiting area.

* * *

The small woman stepped back into the receptionist area quietly, walked to her desk, pushed a few buttons on the phone, locked her computer, and motioned for Frost to follow her. They walked back past a few offices, a small break room, and a conference room. They finally stepped into what appeared to be a room likely used for consultations when the conference room was taken as it currently was.

"Regina," Debbie said quietly as she shut the door behind her, "thinks you're an old boyfriend."

"I guess I am. I mean," Frost took a seat in one of the chairs at the medium sized round table, "I am a boy, I am your friend, and you have known me for a while. I see you're still bad at lying. How does that work when you're in the program?"

"Not well, but I manage." She took a seat not across from him but not next to him either. "You being here could put us all in danger. You do know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, well, me _not _being here could mean Jane ends up working for the mob or dead." His frown deepened. Handing her a file thick with information from what he, Korsak, and Dean had uncovered regarding Jane's dealings since Maura had died, he continued his explanation. "We think she's trying to go after the man who put the hit out that killed you, or, you know, supposedly killed you."

"I don't understand," she shook her head as she flipped through the file. "I thought someone had told her. I thought they told the significant others these things." She continued to flip, her voice becoming more and more angry with each passing page. "How could they have done this to her? This is… this is _wrong_, Barry. I asked." She wiped at her eyes. "I asked them if everyone who needed to know about this situation knew. I asked them if everything was taken care of. I _specifically_ asked them if Jane knew what she needed to know."

"And they told you she did because, for them, what she needed to know was that you were dead." He reached out and placed a hand on her arm, stilling her motions. "Based on what I've learned, they were afraid O'Toole would catch Jane and force her to tell them what she knew about you, and, if they did and she knew you were alive…"

"She'd never tell them anything!" Maura's voice was filled with sorrow and anger mixed with hardline emotions she'd never felt before. She briefly wondered if this was what people who are about to commit a homicide in the heat of passion feel. "Barry, what's happened to her? You have to tell. You have to tell me everything. Right. Now."

* * *

"Yo, Deb? You and your ex better not be doing the nasty in there!" Emma's voice was muffled behind the closed door.

"Really, Emma? Must you be so crass?" Regina was clearly next to her.

Maura wiped at her eyes. "I don't know what to say to them."

"I'll handle it," Frost reassured before opening the door. "Hi." He gave a weak smile. "I'm sorry to steal your receptionist away. I just thought she should hear it in person from a friend."

Regina immediately stepped forward. "What's happened?"

"One of M… um… our very close friends has been in a very bad situation, and she's very hurt. We're all afraid she's on the verge of no return, if you get me." He gave the women a knowing look. Both lawyers nodded their heads in understanding. "I thought Debbie might want to come back with me to see our friend before it's too late."

"Oh my God, Deb, I'm so sorry to hear that," Emma gave a sympathetic look. "We'll be okay without you for a little while if you want to go."

"If? What do you mean if?" The dark haired attorney rolled her eyes before leaning over to make eye contact with her administrative assistant, who was still seated in a chair. "Debbie, you listen to me. You go, and you take all the time you need. There is nothing worse than not being able to say you've done all that you could for someone you care deeply for. If you need anything, and I mean anything, you call us. Do you understand?"

"Thank you, Regina. That's very kind of you. I think I'll leave now, if that's okay with you?" Again, the younger woman wiped at her eyes. "I need to get a few things in order before I leave."

Regina nodded. "Of course, dear."

The redhead gave a very gentle smile of thanks and started to leave, but stopped abruptly. "I do have one question for you," she waited until the dark haired woman gave her an indication to go on. "Who does your and Emma's coloring?"

Emma's face went from sympathetic to confused. "You mean my hair color?"

"Yes," Debbie said with a nod.

"His name is Sinclair Tabard. He's the best in the area." Regina pulled her cell phone out. "I'm texting you his location now, and I'll call him to tell him to expect you immediately. Don't worry about the cost. I'm sure we can work something out later."

"What," Emma looked between the other two women and then the man who looked as lost as she. "Okay, hold up a moment. What the hell is going on here? Why do you need a dye job if you're going to go see a sick friend? That doesn't make any sense at all."

"He never said they were going to see a _sick_ friend, Emma." Regina said as she scrolled through her contacts. "We'll discuss this later. Deb has very little time." She glanced up to meet the grateful hazel eyes of her employee. "Do let me know how things go, and remember you always have a place here, dear."

"Thank you, Regina." The redhead nodded. "I shall. Come on, Barry. Time is of the essence."

* * *

**And we breathe. Right? ;-) I know you're still wondering about her bullet wound. That gets answered a little later, as well as the exact whys and hows of her entering witness protection. But… look! We found Maura, and she's alive! Who is excited? *raises hand***


	28. Chapter 28

"_This _is where they put you up?" Frost glanced around the small, one bedroom apartment that sat above a two car garage, which was located behind a much larger home in one of the nicer areas of the city.

"Well, I _am _a receptionist and sometimes administrative assistant," Maura answered as she finished packing her belongings and checked herself in her mirror one last time. "My paycheck doesn't go as far as my previous one did." She wrinkled her nose in frustration. "The color is perfect, but I'm frustrated they made me cut my hair. It's too short. Jane has always liked it longer."

Frost shrugged. "If she lives through the shock of seeing you're alive, then I think she can live with you having shoulder length hair, doc." He sighed. "How _are _you still alive anyway? Don't get me wrong. I mean, I'm glad you're here, but I saw you when you were bleeding out on the ground. It looked bad."

"It _looked _bad," Maura said with extreme emphasis on the word 'looked'. She ran a hand lightly over her shoulder and then pointed to her bag. "It's still healing. Will carry that to the car, please?"

"Yeah, of course." He stood from the chair in the small bedroom and lifted the suitcase, following the small woman into her living area. "If you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

She spoke as she checked all the windows and doors in her small garage apartment. "I was shot in the shoulder. It missed vital organs, important arteries, and just nicked my shoulder blade on the way out. It was, perhaps, the most unlikely scenario that could have happened." She nodded to herself, satisfied with the lockdown. "Just two days ago was I able to take my arm out of the sling. I've had to tell people that I was in an accident that injured my shoulder, which isn't incorrect, but," she trailed off, a frown on her face.

Frost nodded is understanding and shifted the suitcase to his other hand. "Are you ready to do this?"

"Yes and no." She sighed, giving him a weak smile. "I don't feel like myself. These clothes are a blend and not me at all, my hair is too short, and I find it strange to hear someone call me by my proper title, or some approximation of it." She opened the door and motioned for him to step out first. "But I need to see her, and we need to stop her. The US Marshals will just have to 'deal with it', as Jane's so fond of saying."

With a smirk, Frost stepped aside to let Maura lead the way out. "Okay, doc, let's hit the road. Our plane leaves in two hours."

* * *

"I can't _believe_ you sent Frost out of town right in the middle of a case," Jane threw a wad of paper at Korsak's head, barely missing him and smacking harmlessly against the wall behind him.

"You keep saying that, and I'll keep telling you that it's need to know and you don't need to know, Rizzoli," he shot back, not taking his eyes off of his computer screen. "You get any new leads on the Newman case yet?"

She snorted. "No." Despite her best efforts, a yawn escaped before she could stop it.

Korsak watched her with narrowed eyes. "When's the last time you slept?"

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," she shot back, downing the last of her coffee.

'_That may be sooner than you think if you keep this up, Jane. That wound is infected, and last night's 'assignment' bordered on criminal.'  
'I was wondering when you'd stick your two cents in, Maura. My side's fine. You know I've been taking care of it. I do know how. It's not the first time I've been wounded on the job.'  
'Yes, you do know how, but you're not really. Are you?'  
'Why are you in my head this afternoon? Did it get boring wherever you are when you're not here?'  
'No, Jane. I'm here because you need me to be here. Someone has to remind you that you're a better person than you're acting.'  
'Maybe at one time. Right now, not so much. Shit. My other phone is ringing.'  
'It's him. Don't answer it.'  
_

Standing up, Jane turned on her heels as she called over her shoulder, "I got to take a leak."

* * *

She pulled the burn phone from her jacket pocket and answered it quietly. "Give me two minutes." A grunt was all she received in response.

She stepped into the women's restroom, checked the stalls to make sure they were empty, and then locked the door. "We're good."

"_Rumor is you're in, Rizzoli. That true?" _Doyle's voice held a note of surprise and a bit of pride.

"Word gets around fast," she replied in a nonchalant tone.

"_It's a small community. So?"_

"Yeah, it's true. Talked to the man himself on the phone last night. Did a few things," she shrugged despite no one seeing her do it. "I'm thinking they're fast tracking me."

"_Don't be a fool. They're testing you. If they sent you out last night on your first real assignment, then it's a good sign, but you won't be completely in until you can prove yourself. How far are you willing to go?"_

Without hesitation, she replied coolly, "As far as it takes."

"_Tomorrow night, they'll probably hold you to that. When they do, if you so much as blink before doing whatever it is they want, you'll never make it any further. Do you understand?"_

She took in a deep breath. "Yeah, I got it."

'_Oh, Jane, no. Don't do this. Please don't do this.'  
'Too late, Maura.'_

* * *

"You're staying with me tonight. You can't stay with Korsak because he and Angela are still an item," Frost explained as he opened his apartment door and ushered Maura inside. "I put clean sheets on my bed before I left, and I'm going to sleep on the couch." He carried her suitcase into his small bedroom and placed it on top of his dresser.

"Thank you, Barry. That's very kind of you." Maura was processing. She had been quiet for most of the trip back as she reread the documents in the folder Frost and the others had compiled of Jane's behavior. "Angela doesn't know?"

"Not really. We've tried to keep her out of it, and, whenever she starts to suspect something is up other than Jane's just grieving, Korsak's been good at distracting her. We figured it was better this time if we kept the family out of it." He shrugged. "If we were wrong about it, about you, we didn't want to hurt them more, you know?"

"Yes, I understand." She nodded and then sat gingerly on the side of his bed. "Have you thought of how you're going to get me to Jane?"

"Yeah, about that," he winced. "We didn't get that far."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I'm sure we'll think of something tomorrow. It's late. Maybe we should sleep on it?"

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Oh," his face lit up. "I almost forgot. Korsak and I managed to slip into your house while Jane's been out at night. I brought you back something." Smiling at his own cunning, he walked to his closet and pulled out a blue dress, light grey dress jacket, and beige heels. "We managed to pull these out of your closet. How'd I do on matching?"

Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. "It's," she swallowed a lump in her throat. She recognized that outfit. It was the one she wore the day she confronted Charles Hoyt in an interrogation room. It was the first time she had sacrificed a little part of herself to save Jane. "It's perfect." She smiled at him.

"That's not all we managed to get." He carefully returned the pieces back to his closet and then pulled open a dresser drawer. With a flourish, he pulled out a pair of golden, silky pajamas. "We got these, too."

"Oh," she drew in a breath. The pajama set she'd worn over to Jane's the night the detective had called to ask her to come over because she was afraid she was losing her mind after having a very strange dream. "That's very sweet of you, Barry. Thank you so much for doing all of this."

"It's the least I can do, doc." He handed the clothing over to the small woman and then turned to pull out night clothes for himself. "Give me about twenty minutes, and then the bathroom is all yours. I'm going to go in at my normal time tomorrow morning, but you can sleep in. Korsak and I won't be able to come back here until lunch. Just," he shrugged, "make yourself at home. There's not much in the fridge, but I tried to stock a couple of things I thought you might actually like eating."

"You didn't have to go to all this trouble," Maura said, giving him a look to say she meant every word.

He ducked his head down in an odd show of shyness. "Like I said, doc, it's the least I can do."

* * *

"Parks!" Jane yelled as she brazenly walked into his office without so much as knocking. "The next time you decide to send me out to take care of business, I had better be able to carry a gun because that last son of a bi… Oh!" She stopped talking, eyes growing wide as she glanced from the man sitting at the desk who was clearly _not _Parks to her boss, who was sitting very quietly in his own visitor's chair. "My bad." She held her hands up. "I'll just…"

"You're early, Dawson," Parks said in a cold tone, and she knew she'd just screwed up. She'd come a half hour earlier than she was scheduled to try and get them to at least let her carry a knife for protection. Their assignments were getting too dangerous for her to go unarmed on them.

"Yeah," she nodded, sticking her hands in her back pockets and rolling onto the balls of her feet. "I just wanted to see about a few things before my shift. I'm sorry, boss. I should have knocked first."

Her eyes flicked to the man behind the desk and then back to the yard foreman. The air was thick with tension, and she cleared her throat as she tried to think of a way out. "I, uh, I'll just go grab some coffee or something to kill time before my shift."

She turned to go, but an unfamiliar male voice stopped her. "How good?"

A haughty smirk crawled its way across her face as she turned back around and closed the door behind her, leaning against it as she kept one hand on the doorknob and wrapped the thumb of her free hand through one of her belt loops. "The best," she said, her voice strong and confident. "Didn't think I'd see your face so soon O'Toole."

He gave a quiet chuckle. "Is it everything you'd hope it would be?"

For the briefest of moments, she considered telling him exactly what she thought of his face, but the insanity quickly passed. Instead, she pushed herself back into character, and replied with that same air of confidence, "You're not really my type, but you're pretty enough."

O'Toole shook his head. "You got balls, Dawson. I'll give you that."

"Strap 'em on every day," she said, shifting her weight for emphasis.

"We were just talking about you." O'Toole motioned to the empty chair. "Since you're here, why don't you take a seat? I have something for you to do, and it might take you a couple of days."

* * *

**We're getting there. The next couple of chapters are going to be really hard for me to write. I mean, it's going to be emotional. I just thought I'd warn you.**

.mil]


	29. Chapter 29

'_Hell of place to be on a Thursday night.'  
'You wouldn't be here if you would just stop this madness.'  
'Yeah, well, if you'd kept your mouth shut to the FBI about what you knew about O'Toole, none of this would have happened.'  
'How did you know? I never told anyone but the proper authorities. How did you find out?'_

Jane ignored the irritating scratchy feeling the blonde wig caused. It was a constant effort not to pull the thing off and scratch her head. Instead, she focused on the low level of coffee in her cup.

Three hours earlier Tommy O'Toole himself had given her a mission to test her out on something 'bigger than a message run', and now she found herself sitting outside one of the posher establishments in Boston trying to look inconspicuous as she waited for the business owner to close up shop and leave for the night.

She'd been on worse stakeout locations, but her end goal had never been so distasteful.

'_I'm a detective, Maura. Figuring things out is sort of what I do, or have you forgotten that since you spend your time in la-la land when you're not here pestering me?'  
'There's no need for you to get nasty with me, Jane Rizzoli. I'm not the one who is going against everything I believe in just to take out revenge on a mob boss.'  
'Yeah, well, __**I'm **__not the one who figured out who Tommy O'Toole's main hitman was and ratted her out to the FBI without telling her girlfriend/cop about it first and then got herself shot because she couldn't keep her big mouth closed.'  
'How was I supposed to know that my name would be leaked? Honestly Jane, I don't understand how…'  
_

The detective rolled her eyes, drained her coffee, and gave a huff. The alley was cold, and the dark was creeping into her bones. She rolled her eyes at what her life had amounted to, standing in an alleyway, waiting to follow a guy who hadn't paid the right people the right amount of cash.

'_Trish Todd.'  
'What?'_

Jane rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning against the building as she did so.

'_You figured out Trish Todd was O'Toole's new hitman. I've been busy while you've been away in la-la land. While I haven't been sleeping and you haven't been in my head, I've been reading all your notes on everything, and I managed to crack into your personal and professional email accounts.'  
'I can't believe you, Jane.'  
'Believe it. That guy you emailed at the FBI? Turns out, he's dirty. He's working for O'Toole. I saw him at the shipping yard two nights ago when I went to work. You weren't offed because you were Doyle's daughter. It had nothing to do with it.'  
'I was shot because I knew too much.'  
'Exactly. You should have come to me, Maura. You should have told me what you knew once you pieced everything together. You should have trusted me.'  
'I was trying to protect you.'  
'Well, you didn't do a good job, did you? Look where I am now.'_

A man in a well-tailored suit stepped out of the business and locked the door. He pocketed his keys and began to walk the short distance to his home. Jane checked her watch, made a mental not of the time, and pushed off of the building to follow behind him far enough she wouldn't be noticed.

'_You're not going to stop, are you?'  
'No, Maura, I'm not. O'Toole is still responsible for your death, and I'm going to make sure he pays.'  
'By helping Paddy Doyle?'  
'Whatever it takes.'_

She winced as her side began to throb, but she ignored the pain. It was something tolerable. Instead, she found a place outside of the man's home where she would be in shadows as she took note of his nightly routine.

'_If I'm going to do this right, It's going to take more than a couple of nights, and it's going to take some heavy research.'  
'Oh, Jane…'_

* * *

"Where's Jane?" Frost slipped into the bullpen, trying to avoid what turned out to be a very empty chair.

"Coffee." Korsak frowned deeply. "She looks like hell."

"I wonder if she slept at all last night." The younger detective shook his head and glanced down at his partner's desk. "Why is she investigating Henry Shively?"

Korsak's eyebrows went up. "The owner of that ritzy place downtown?" At the other man's nod, he shrugged. "She shouldn't be. We're not working any leads that have anything to do with him." For a moment they were both quiet as they ran through reasons, and it was Korsak whose eyes finally snapped up. "You don't think he's a mark, do you?"

Frost sat down heavily in his chair. "Could be, but wouldn't that mean she's moving fast up the ranks?"

"Yeah, but you know how she is." The older man glanced to the door, checking. "She never does anything halfway. Frost, tell me you got what you were after."

The door to the bullpen opened, and a very tired, ragged Jane Rizzoli strolled in carrying two cups of coffee and a pastry in her mouth. Frost gave a quick nod in the positive before addressing his partner. "You got a cup of coffee for me?" He played up the playful angle. "You shouldn't have!"

Jane opened her mouth and let the pastry drop to her desk. "I didn't," she grumbled as she carefully sat the two cups down. "It's a two-fisted coffee cup kind of morning." She sat down with a grunt of pain, shifting as she favored her injured side. "You have a good vacation?"

Frost rolled his eyes. "Not really since it wasn't a vacation." He started keying in his password to log into his computer. "Trust me, you weren't missing anything. Anyway, what'd I miss while I was gone?"

"Dead bodies and Pike," she shot back around a mouthful of pastry.

"So, the usual," he smirked as he began to check his emails.

* * *

Maura looked at herself in the mirror Frost had hung on the back of his bedroom door. She _almost_ looked like herself. Her hair was the right color, her clothing was right, her makeup was spot on, but there were things that were off, too.

Her hair was too short, her clothes didn't fit as well because of the weight loss, and her eyes held a sadness that she didn't really want to recognize was there.

She glanced at the clock. It was the lunch hour, and she knew Frost would be there soon. With a sigh, she made her way to the small kitchen to begin a pot of coffee and stood there watching it brew. As the last drips found their way to the pot, the apartment door opened to allow Frost to enter followed by Korsak.

"Doc?" Korsak's voice held a note of disbelief.

"Hello, Vince. It's very good to see you again," Maura answered demurely.

"I can't believe my eyes," he said as he stepped to her, opening his arms to give her a crushing hug. "You're really here." He pulled back to get a better look at her. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

She gave him her best reassuring smile. "I'm glad to be back." She gently pulled away. "I've made a pot of coffee. I thought, perhaps, you'd like some while we discussed how to get me to Jane without causing her any more mental stress."

"No offense, doc, but I really don't think there's any possible way to _not_ cause her more mental stress," Frost said as he pulled down mugs and then pulled out the makings for sandwiches. "But, whatever we do, we need to hurry. Korsak and I think she's been given a mark."

Maura froze, her face draining of what little color it had. "Barry, you don't think she'd… well, I mean, surely she wouldn't…"

"We need to hurry," Korsak cut in, before taking a seat at the small table in Frost's apartment. "Jane's not really herself these days."

* * *

"Hey, Jane," Frost shifted in his chair, knowing how this conversation was going to turn out even before he started it. "I was thinking it's been a long week. What do you say we go to the Robber for drinks tonight?"

She shook her head. "Can't. Got plans."

He huffed. "Okay," drawing the word out as if he were thinking of his next best option. "What about we chill at your place, have a couple, and watch a little ESPN?"

"Sorry, can't. I told you. I have plans tonight." Her eyes never left the screen, and whatever she was reading was something she was clearly committing to memory.

"Jane," he waited for her to look at him. After a few minutes, he tried again. "Jane?" With a sigh, he said a bit louder, "_Jane._"

"What?" She napped, eyes finally meeting his.

"I know you've got a night job, but you look like hell, I haven't seen you outside of work for a month, and I miss my friend. Come on, take a night off, chill at him with me, and just relax." He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow as if he were joking as he added, "The way you're gone all the time, it's like you're living a double life or something. Come on!" He leaned back, body language open as he smiled. "What's one night of playing hooky from one of your jobs to hang out with your partner, drinks some beers, and watch sports?"

'_Shit.'  
'I've always been fond of Barry. He's a lot more intelligent than you give him credit for being.'  
'Yeah, well, I can't tell him no, but I can't not do this. Damn it.'_

"I don't feel like drinking all night, Frost." She gave a heavy sigh. "But you're right. How about you come over, and we can have a pizza and a couple of beers before I head out to the other job tonight?" At his disappointed look, she reminded him in annoyed tones, "Look, I've only been there a month. I can't call in right now. It'd look bad."

Frost nodded, clearly willing to take the concession. "Okay. Alright, fine, but I'll bring the pizza with me. You have beer there, right?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

With a smile, they both turned back to their computers.

* * *

**Next. Chapter.**


	30. Chapter 30

"The hell?" Jane pushed up from the sofa and made her way to the door. She told Frost to come in, the door was open, so she was beyond annoyed when the bell rang.

"Yo, got a pizza here for," the teenaged delivery boy checked his ticket, "Jane Rizzoli?"

She gave him a questioning look. "Yeah, that's me." She mentally cursed Frosts for leaving her to pay the tab for a pizza he was supposed to bring with him. "How much?"

The teen shook his head as he looked up from the receipt in his hand. "It's paid, tip and all." He handed the box over to her. "Thanks, lady, have a good one!"

Holding the box out in front of her, Jane slowly closed the door, and turned around with a look somewhere between annoyed and confused on her face. With a shrug, she walked into the kitchen and set the box down, flipping the lid open to grab a slice.

It was then that she stopped.

"What?" Her voice shook a little. "Half peperoni and half mushroom?" Her eyes ran down the thin line of topless cheese that well and truly separated the halves. It was a quirk Maura had introduced to their favorite pizza place, and he only baked the pies like that for the two women.

Her eyes stared down at the pizza as her hands flexed at her sides. It was something so small. It was a pizza, but, then again, it was everything her life no longer was. It was a reminder someone who would never be there to share her pizza with her again.

"Jane?" Frost's voice was quiet so as not to scare her. He knew he was about to do a lot more than that, and he wanted to start out gently. He had walked in shortly after the pizza had arrived, and he stood quietly a few feet behind her in the kitchen. "I think you should turn around."

Jane's voice was harsh, her body rigid. "Why?"

"Because it's been a long month," his voice was soft but firm. "Because we've all been worried about you and what you've been doing after hours. Because Dean, Korsak, and I went to a lot of trouble to find a way to make this delivery." He let out the breath he'd been holding for over a month. "You need to turn around, Jane."

* * *

There were a very few things in Jane Rizzoli's life that made her question her reality. She could count them off in her mind in that mental checklist sort of way she did just before sleep.

There was the time she dreamed about that boy that was killed in what looked like a ritualistic way, and she had dreamed of him only to be pulled out of it by a vase of flowers falling and shattering in her kitchen. She'd called Maura over that night to make sure she wasn't losing her mind.

There was the time she had to check her reality because, even though she knew Hoyt was dead, the killings were too similar. Too bad it was someone out for Maura. That had almost ended badly.

The night Hoyt had her pinned to floor was, however, the most monuments point in her life in which she honestly had to check her reality after Korsak came in to rescue her. In the moments after Hoyt had been subdued and she unpinned from the floor, everything around her felt unreal.

The lights, the sounds, the smells, _everything_ was one big blur as the combination of the pain in her body and the shock running through her system made her brain unable to really process what was happening. She remembers having to ask Korsak over and over again if she was still in the basement and if she was still seeing Hoyt handcuffed.

For long weeks after that night, she would dream of Hoyt being in her room when she awoke, and it felt so real she was sure he'd escaped to come finish the job. When she actually woke up, she would be terrified. She would call Frankie or her Ma as she physically went to inspect every inch of her apartment to prove to herself he wasn't there.

Checking her reality. Checking her sanity.

She didn't do it often. She didn't often question what her eyes told her she saw, but it did happen from time to time. Her life seemed to be full of moments that, if it were anyone else, would probably have driven them to the crazy house long before this point in her life.

But, as she turned around to face Frost, the bottom fell out of her reality.

Behind Frost and a little to his left was a ghost. Standing there as if it were the most natural thing in the world and looking as real as any time she could ever recall seeing her, was Maura.

It was Maura in her perfectly fitted clothes and perfectly coifed hair and perfectly applied makeup with her perfect posture. It was Maura, standing primly and quietly behind Frost with a look of apprehension mixed with the most sincere care and love Jane could ever recall seeing on the petite woman's face.

It was Maura.

'_No. This cannot be happening.'  
'Jane…'  
'This is it, I've finally lost my mind.'  
'Jane…'_

"Jane," Maura's lips moved, and her voice floated over the voice in the detective's mind.

"No," Jane reached behind her with both hands, gripping the island for support and grounding. "No, no, no, no," she continued to mutter as she slowly shook her head, eyes wide and unblinking.

Maura took a step forward until she was in front of Frost but still a few feet from Jane.

'_Maura?'  
'She's standing in front of you, Jane.'  
'Then who the fucking hell are you?'  
_

"Jane, please, just breathe," the doctor said in quiet, reassuring tones.

"You can't be here. You're not here. You're not real. You can't be real." The dark haired woman ignored the tears streaking down her cheeks, the pain in her side, and the trembling in her body. Her reality was clearly gone. Nothing made sense. "I saw you die. I watched you bleed out in our home, _on our floor_. I saw you in the hospital's morgue. I went to your funeral. You're dead, Maura."

It was the first time Jane had said the sentence aloud. It was the first time the words had truly rolled off her tongue, and, as they did so, she broke. "You're dead," she sobbed, her grip not tight enough to keep her from falling as her knees buckled beneath her. "Gone," she sobbed, pulling herself into a ball and pushing against the island as much as she could. "You died. You died, and you _left_ me, and you're _gone_." She spat the words out.

Maura stepped closer and carefully knelt next to the other woman, not quite sure what to do. She glanced over her shoulder to Frost, who only looked on sympathetically, clearly just as lost as the doctor. Turning back to Jane, Maura gave the detective a kind look as she reached out to tentatively place a hand on Jane's face. "I'm not dead. I'm not gone. I didn't leave you. I'm here, and I'm alive." The tears fell, then. Maura couldn't stop them. Seeing her strong detective break completely down was more than she could stoically bear witness to. "I assure you, I'm very much alive."

Jane leaned into the touch, still not believing it. Her eyes sought out Frost, and, when she found him, her voice pleaded with him to answer her questions with what she needed to hear. "Is she really here?"

He cleared his throat. "Yes, Jane. She's really here."

She took in a shuddering breath. "Is she really alive?"

"Yeah, she's really alive," he nodded.

"I don't understand," she pulled away from Maura's touch, wiping at her eyes. "How? How are you alive? If you're alive," She began to pull further away, trying to stand up as she spoke, "why the fuck did you let me think you were dead?"

Anger began to take over where, just a moment before, there was only confusion. "You just… _left me_, and you let me think you were gone _forever_?" She finally stood, walking backwards to put the island between her and Maura, but she never took her eyes off of the other woman. "How could you do that to me? How could you _fucking do that to me?_ Do you know, Maura? Do you have _any _idea what I've been going through? What it's been like to think that you…" She was yelling now, and she clutched at her side as ranted. "I thought you were dead! How could you let me think you were dead? Where the fuck do you…"

Maura stood stoically, willingly taking the brunt of Jane's anger, but Frost was done letting her rant. "Jane! That's enough!" He broke in, not caring that she looked angry enough to kill them all. "She didn't know you didn't know. Okay?"

"What?" Jane snapped back at him. Her eyes were angrier than he'd ever seen them, and he wondered for a moment if this had been a good idea.

"I said," he started again but with less force this time. "She didn't know that we didn't know. She thought the US Marshals had told us she was in the program."

"She didn't know?" Jane blinked again, head slowly turning to the other woman. "You didn't know?"

"No, Jane," Maura's voice was soft yet sad. "I didn't know. I would never have done this to you. They told me that everyone who needed to know knew, and I thought I had made certain you were on that list. They thought you shouldn't know. They didn't tell you." She wiped at her eyes. "Words cannot express how sorry I am. I would never hurt you like this."

"US Marshals," Jane muttered to herself. She was trying to process. "The program?" She closed her eyes, taking in a deep, cleansing breath to steady herself. "You were in witness protection?" She opened her eyes to find Maura, who was, much to her relief, still standing on the other side of the island.

"Yes," the doctor quietly answered.

Jane swallowed down the lump in her throat. "Because of Trish Todd?"

The name took Frost by surprise and he suddenly looked lost. During all this time, it had yet to occur to him to figure out why Maura was in the program. He had been too focused trying to find her to bother with that specific detail.

"I am the only person who can sufficiently prove Trish Todd was Tommy O'Toole's newest hitman. After the attempt on my life, the US Marshals in conjunction with the FBI decided it would be best if I were put into Witness Protection until Trish was recaptured and put on trial." Maura sighed heavily. "They were supposed to have told you. You should never have had to go through all of this. It should never have happened."

"The FBI? So Dean knew?" Again, Jane's anger rose up.

Frost quickly put it in check. "No, he didn't know. He's not on the O'Toole case. They kept him out of this one. He's the one that helped us figure out what had actually happened to Maura." He held up a folder he'd been carrying and made sure they both saw where he placed it on the kitchen counter. "It's all in here. We did a lot of work and pulled a lot of strings to find her."

Jane looked from Frost to Maura and back to Frost again. "She's really here? Maura Isles is really standing on the other side of the kitchen island from me right now at this very moment?"

He couldn't help but give a small chuckle. "Yes, Jane. Doctor Maura Isles is really standing in your kitchen right now at this very moment."

She grunted, her side finally demanding she shift to take some of the pressure off of it.

'_You should let Maura look at that.'  
'Okay, so you're a voice in my head?'  
'Clearly.'  
'That sounds just like Maura?'  
'I sound like whomever you want me to sound like. When you were a child, I sounded like your mother.'  
'So… I'm nuts?'  
'No, you just think in a dialogue, Jane. You always have. You know that. You're not crazy. But you are hurt, and you are tired.'  
'I'm hurt, tired, and crazy. Got it.'  
'Just let Maura see about your wound before the infection kills us.'  
'Oh, it's "us" now, is it?'  
'Jane, you're arguing with yourself.'  
'Well, if I'm going to be crazy…'  
'Shut up and do what you know you need to do.'_

"Okay," Jane nodded, more to herself than the others. "I'm going to go with I'm only slightly crazy and Maura is really here." She leaned back against the counter, wincing at the pain radiating from her side as she pulled her burn phone out of her pocket. Hitting a button, she waited until the person on the other end picked up.

"Parks? Dawson. Listen, I got an issue. Yeah, well, now I got two issues, then. My side's giving me hell. I can't do this. I got to take care of my… what? Even the best ain't Superman, okay? I'm not made of fucking steel, and I've been working for almost a month with the damned thing. It's not getting better. I need to go to the… Oh, whatever, Parks. You can suck my nonexistent dick." She looked up to give the others a silent apology for her language. "Fine. Whatever. I'll call you later."

She ended the call and made another. She didn't have to wait long for the next person to answer. "Deal's off."

"_You better have a good reason for saying that, Rizzoli, because, if you're…"_

Jane cut into Doyle's threat, "She's alive. I'm looking at her."

"_Prove it." _

"Okay. I'm going to hang up and then text you a pic. Give me no more than five minutes." With that, she ended the call. She walked over to Maura and handed her the newspaper sitting on the counter, instructing Maura to hold it near her face where the date could be seen. When Jane was satisfied with the pose, she snapped the picture and sent it to Doyle.

They waited in silence. It didn't take long for the phone to ring.

"_I'll make sure Heather Dawson meets an untimely end sometime tonight when she's working. This doesn't make us allies."_

"Wouldn't dream of it. By the way, she called in tonight, just so you know." She didn't bother to hear his response. Instead, she ended the call and tossed the phone into the trash.

She frowned as she stared at the trash. "I guess we have a lot to talk about, don't we?"

"I should think so," came Maura's quiet reply.

"I'll leave you two alone, but, if you need anything, you know how to find me," Frost said before slipping out of the front door.

* * *

Jane quietly went to the door and locked it, then went through the house to check windows and doors. When she was satisfied everything was securely shut, she made her way back to where Maura waited for her in the kitchen.

"Your hair is shorter," she said as she reached out to touch Maura's hair.

"Yes, the Marshals made me cut it. I wasn't very happy with that," the smaller woman replied with a frown. "They also had me dye it red."

Jane's eyes widened a smidge. "Red? I don't think I can picture you with really red hair. How red?"

Maura shrugged. "It was a chestnut auburn color. It wasn't bad, but it certainly was not my preference."

"You recolored it before you came home?" Jane's hand shook as it trailed from Maura's hair to the striking features of the other woman's face.

"Yes, I wanted you to be able to easily recognize me. Once Frost explained the situation to me," the doctor stopped, unable to finish. There was just too much emotion.

"I would say we should sleep on it," Jane gave a genuine smirk to Maura's eye roll before continuing, "but I really do have a wound on my side, and I can't go to the hospital for it. Can you look at it?"

"Of course," Maura hesitated for a split second. "Do I want to know how you were injured and why you can't go to the hospital for it?"

"No, probably not," the detective answered as they made their way to the bedroom, the pizza completely forgotten, "but I'll tell you anyway while you look at it."

Frowning, Maura nodded. "I appreciate your honesty."

"I'll never lie to you, Maura. I think we've had enough secrets, don't you?" Jane grunted as she stopped at their bed and began to peel her shirt off, careful of her side.

Maura made her way to the master bath to gather supplies as she called over her shoulder, "Yes, I think so."

* * *

**Hope that wasn't too anti climatic for anyone. The story isn't done yet, just so you know. There are too many loose ends, I feel, with the case. Plus, you know, I need to do some mushy Rizzles stuff before this ends.**


	31. Chapter 31

"You should have gone to the hospital," Maura grumbled as she examined.

"You know why I didn't," Jane said through gritted teeth. "Is it bad?"

"I think the question you ought to be asking me, Jane, isn't if it's bad but how bad it is." The doctor frowned as she gently ran a probing finger over the long gash on the opposite from the light scar from a long ago self-inflicted bullet. "This will scar. You've waited too long to have it properly treated."

"Yeah, well, my regular physician was away at the time," came the grumbled response followed by a yelp. "Damn it, Maura, that hurts. What are you doing," she tried to see what was happening, only to realize she wasn't at the correct angle to see anything, "digging for organs or something?"

"Yes," Maura deadpanned as she began to clean the wound, "how did you know?"

Jane snorted. "Was that sarcasm? I think it was," she grunted gain as Maura poured an antiseptic on the wound. "Okay, who are you _really_?"

"You caught me," the doctor answered in the same deadpan voice, "I'm really Debbie Oscar of Birmingham, Alabama. I just happen to look a lot like your girlfriend, and, when I'm not a receptionist for a small immigration law firm, I practice medicine for fun."

Maura began to properly dress the wound, ignoring Jane's grunts of protest from the discomfort.

"Really?" The detective slowly sat up, a hand on her properly bandaged side. She dangled her legs off the side of the bed and sighed in relief as she watched Maura clean up from dressing the wound. "Was that your alias?"

With a heavy sigh, Maura answered quietly, "Yes," as she put things away and returned to the bed. "I missed you."

"I missed you," Jane reached out, pulling the standing woman closer so she could nuzzle her face against the familiar warmth of Maura's body. "Don't leave me again, okay? I don't think I could handle it again."

Maura placed one hand in the unruly mass of hair before her and rested the other on Jane's back. She slowly rubbed circle across the tired tense shoulders of her detective as she let the quiet settle before softly answering, "I'll try."

Jane took in a deep breath, inhaling the calming scent of the other woman. Gradually, she pulled back to look up into Maura's face. Her look was contemplative. When she spoke, her voice held a hint of fear. "Will you be safe?"

"I honestly don't know," Maura answered, unwilling to give a platitude. "Trish is still out there, and, if Tommy O'Toole learns I'm still alive, it is highly plausible that there will another attempt on my life."

Fully pulling away from the doctor, Jane stood to pace the room, a deep frown etched into her features. "Maybe you should go back. It's not too late. I don't think anyone who knows you're alive is going to leak it."

"No." The answer was firm, determined. "I'm not leaving. I shouldn't have agreed to go in the first place. I thought I was protecting all of you, but that's not what happened. I'm not leaving again." Maura stepped in front of Jane, stopping her from pacing. "Don't send me away."

"I would _never _send you away, Maura." Jane reached forward, gently laying her hand on the side of the other woman's face. "I want you here with me, but I want you safe, too, and I don't think I can keep you safe right now."

Maura stepped closer until their bodies touched. "You can keep me as safe as anyone can."

Running her thumb over the petite woman's cheek, Jane gave thought to their current situation. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," the doctor smiled warmly. "I trust you and the rest of the department. I know you'll all do your best to keep me safe, and I know you'll all do your very best to find Trish. I have faith that it's just a matter of time before she's apprehended and this can all be put behind us."

"Okay," Jane replied through a teary eyed gaze. "I still can't believe you're actually here, that you're really alive."

"I'm here," Maura said as she closed the space between them, wrapping her arms around Jane's neck. "And I'm alive," she whispered as she finally placed a kiss on the other woman's trembling lips.

One kiss turned into two, which turned into multiple, and the rest of the night was lost to both of them.

* * *

"I hate that doorbell," Jane grumbled. Rolling over, she burrowed deeper under the covers and closer to Maura, who only chuckled in response.

"You're the only one who can answer the door, and," she was interrupted by the bell ringing again, "I don't believe they're going to stop."

Jane looked at the clock and whined. "But it's 6:30 in the morning!"

Maura chuckled. "Jane."

"Fine," the dark haired woman huffed as she dramatically threw the covers off of her, grabbed the first things she could find on the floor to wear, a black t-shirt and a pair of gray basketball shorts, and stumbled to the front door as she pulled her hair into a haphazard ponytail.

"Okay," she yelled toward the door, "Alright! I'm coming." Throwing the door opened, she growled out a "what" to a very amused looking Frost.

"Good night?" He held up a bag of breakfast food while he balanced three cups of coffee in his other.

Jane snorted. "Yeah. You good while we shower and get dressed?"

"Yeah, Bass, Jo, and I will just chill in the kitchen." He bent down to scratch the little dog's head as he gave a head nod to the tortoise slowly making its way away from the noise.

* * *

"So it's settled? I'll contact the US Marshals and tell them I'm stepping out of the program," Maura said over her coffee.

The two detectives nodded.

"I'll insist they ensure I get my job back," she continued as she fed Jane a bite of her croissant. "I see no reason Dr. Pike should continue to be allowed to sit in my seat if I'm, in fact, alive and myself." She sighed in irritation at the thought of Pike in her morgue, touching her things.

"I have an idea about finding Trish," Jane said, her voice careful. "You're not going to like it," she threw an apologetic look at the two of them.

Frost pushed away from the island, standing to throw away the trash. "Is this something I probably shouldn't know?"

Jane shrugged. "Probably, but, since you already know stuff you shouldn't, what does it matter if you know this, too?" At Frost's matching shrug, she continued, "Doyle thinks Trish was working for him. If he found out Trish was a double agent, I'm pretty sure the issue would take care of itself because he'd probably have a better idea of where she is."

"No, Jane. Absolutely not." Maura's face shut down, eyes blaring with disapproval. "I will not be the reason for yet another person's death as a 'sign' of what happens to people who threaten me. One is bad enough."

"If I work the angle right, I might be able to convince Doyle that it would hurt O'Toole more for his hitman to go on trial than to be found dead in some random back alley, and, honestly, Maura," again, Jane's face looked full of apology, "I think he has a better shot of finding her than we ever would."

"I hate to say it," Frost said as he returned to his place at the island with the burn phone in his hand, "but I think she's right, doc. Besides, it _would _mess O'Toole up more to have his hitman on trial or at least in the FBI's hands than dead." He slid the phone toward the women.

Jane tried to reason with the doctor. "This will work, and then you'll be safe, and everything will be fine. No one dies. No other innocent person gets hurt, and we put at least one bad guy, if not a whole bunch, behind bars."

Maura reached out, picking the phone up with a shaking hand. She turned it over and over as she thought, considering all their options and wondering what would really be best. Finally, she set the phone down again, pushing it toward Jane. "If she's murdered, Jane, I will never forgive any of us in this room, including myself."

Picking the phone up and giving a nod, Jane let out a long stream of air. "I'll be very specific. Are you going to call your Marshals' contact?"

"Yes," Maura slid from her stool and started to the bedroom. "I'll do it now while you're making your call. I'd like to get this over with quickly."

* * *

"_It's 7:30 in the morning, Rizzoli."_

"Yeah, I know, but this can't wait. I got something you need to know," Jane said as she paced in her kitchen while Frost watched on.

"_Well?"_

She gave a nervous glance to her partner, and then plowed ahead. "Trish Todd? She's not just your admin assistant. She's Tommy O'Toole's hitman."

There was a long, drawn silence. _"You sure?"_

"Yeah, Maura figured it out. That's why she was in the program. Listen, before you do something rash, let me throw something at you," again she gave a nervous glance to Frost. "Trish Todd alive and in the FBI's hands would do you a lot more good than a dead Trish Todd."

"_Keep talking."_

"You know how this works. They offer her a deal if she squeals, and she'll squeal on the both of you, but she was just doing your paperwork. She was offing people for O'Toole. He's still playing the 'legit businessman'. He's not like you. He's not hiding yet. This'll weaken him if she's alive but in custody. _Think _about it. We'll finally have something to pin on him."

"_I'll think about it."_ He hung up.

Jane pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. Frost tilted his head. "Well?"

"He'll _think _about it."


	32. Chapter 32

"I didn't expect to see you here today, Jane," Korsak said as he watched the lanky brunette swagger into the office. "I figured you'd take the day off."

"Yeah, well, Frost was at my door at 6:30 this morning, so it's not like I was sleeping in." She shrugged as she plopped down in her chair, winced at the pain that stabbed her in the side, and flipped her computer on. "She's talking to the Marshals right now. I give it another two hours before everyone knows."

He grunted. "What about your families?"

"She'll contact hers, and then we'll go see mine. After that," Jane's grinned flashed across her face, "I'm hoping we get to tell Pike to take a hike."

"I'm videoing that." Frost walked around the desks and took his seat. "There's no way that's not going to be hilarious."

She snorted at her partner. "You've got a messed up sense of hum…."

"Sorry to bother you, detectives." A young uniformed officer with a look of panic on his face burst into the homicide unit's domain. "There's something you have to you… um… _see._ You have to see this. It's… there's a … a _thing _outside, and it's for you, Rizzoli."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "A 'thing?' What does that even mean?"

The young officer let out a heave sigh. "Please, Detective. Lieutenant Cavanaugh wants you outside within the next five minutes."

"Great." Jane stood up and gave the other two a look that make it clear she expected them to follow her. "Just great. Is it too much to ask for a nice, quiet, normal day?"

Frost shook his head. "We're homicide detectives. Is there really such a thing."

With a grin, Korsak answered in a chipper voice, "Nope."

* * *

"How in the hell?" Jane stopped with an almost audible squeal of her preverbal tires as she stepped outside the front door of BPD. "It's only been two hours," she mumbled to herself.

"Rizzoli!" Cavanaugh was already walking toward her, pointing to the pull-behind trailer that was sitting by the curb and not attached to anything. "Why is there a note attached to her, and how in the hell did you get her here?"

Jane blinked and looked in the direction he pointed. Sitting in the unattended flatbed trailer was Trish Todd. She looked scared, tired, and extremely angry. Gagged and bound at the wrists and ankles, she was practically a present waiting to be unwrapped by the authorities.

"Explain this." Her boss thrust a piece of paper that was now inside a clear plastic protector in front her while a couple of uniformed officers worked at untying Trish.

She slowly took the paper from him and gradually moved her eyes down to read the page. To save time and because she knew the two men behind her were dying to know, she read it aloud.

"Detective Rizzoli, I heard you and your people were looking for this chick. I found her hiding out at my job and thought I'd pass her along because my job's been causing me some problems, so I figured I'd cause them some problems. By the time you read this, I'll be out of here. Once they know it was me, I'm probably going to have to start looking into living in a cave somewhere. Whatever. Girl's got to have some fun where she can. Good luck to you, Detective. Regards, Heather Dawson."

Jane lowered the paper as her mind whirled around what all of this meant. "I don't know her."

Cavanaugh was furious. "Then how does she know you? How does she know about any of this?"

"I don't know her personally," Jane corrected as her mind kicked back into gear. "I know her through a friend of a friend who lives in New York. Dawson was cop for the NYPD until she came up on corruption charges. I knew she was here on Boston working the night shift as a security guard for Jenkins and Sons, but I only knew that because I looked into the place recently when I was working an old cold case."

She swallowed the lump down and shook her head. "You know word gets around fast when a prisoner escapes."

"I already have people looking for her," he said as he took the paper away from her. "You have anything else I should know about this whole thing?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "I think she was working as Tommy O'Toole's hitman." She grunted, knowing this was going to turn into a long day, "But I don't have any solid evidence. _But _I know someone who does." She dropped her hand and looked him in the eye. "Give me about an hour, and I'll have her here, and she can show you what she knows."

"This had better be good, Rizzoli. I need something that's going to pacify my superiors on why a dirty cop from New York is doing our job for us."

"Trust me, this will blow them away," she said before turning around to go back inside, leaving Frost and Korsak outside with Cavanaugh.

"Has she finally lost her mind?" The lieutenant looked to the older detective for an answer.

"No, but in about an hour, you're going to think you have," Korsak answered with a frown. "Sean, go with us on this. It's better to wait until she can get the witness down here."

"Yeah," Frost nodded in his agreement. "You really have to see this to believe it."

Cavanaugh's frown deepened. "I don't like this, and, if this turns out to you covering for her, I'm going to have your asses."

"Trust us," Korsak gave him a very serious stare. "This will be enough to take down more than just Trish."

* * *

"Jane, I can't just walk in there without warning everyone." Maura refused to get out of the car. "This will adversely affect people."

"We're not just walking in there. I asked Ma and Frankie to come out to the parking garage. After they see you, _then_ we'll just walk in there." She got out of the car and stepped around to open the passenger's side. "Speaking of family, how did yours take the news."

"When I called and the situation was explained to them, Mother fainted. Father was stoic for a bit, which tells me that he was crying but didn't want me to know it." Maura remained seated in the car. She watched as Jane leaned against the side and crossed her arms to wait. "They're relieved and happy I'm alive, but very angry that no one told any of you. I talked them out of a lawsuit." She sighed. "The Marshals weren't certain they would be able to place me back into my old job role, but Father said he and Mother knew people in high places that could assist with the issue. I'd estimate it will only take a few days before I have my old position back."

"Good." Jane gave a definitive nod of her head. "I really hate Pike." She stood up quickly as her eyes caught sight of her family. "Okay, here they come. You ready?"

Maura shook her head. "No, but it's too late now, isn't it?"

"Ma! Frankie! Over here," Jane waved them down. She made sure to stand in front of the open car door.

"Janie, what's this all about?" Angela looked concerned and confused.

Frankie looked irritated. "I'm about to get off from an overnight, Jane. Come on! What could be so important that it can't wait until I get a few winks?"

Jane gave him a hard look before she started in on the speech she'd been practicing in her head. "I know everyone's been worried about me since… you know, and I get why. Frost and Korsak? They've been super worried about me, and they started doing a little digging around to see if they could help me out with a few things, and they found something really important. And, no Frankie, this can't wait." She ran a hand through her hair, flipping the part as she took in a deep breath. "They found out that Maura didn't die."

"What?" Angela's eyes grew wide, and her mouth dropped. "What do you mean she didn't die? Honey, I know you miss her, but sometimes bad things happen and…"

"I'm very much alive, Angela. I assure you." Jane stepped aside, allowing Maura to stand up from the car. "I've been in the Witness Protection Program."

"Holy Jesus Christ!" Frankie did a double take. "Maura, you're alive!"

"Yes," she responded, trying to not chuckle at this situation.

Angela tried to think around her show. "But… but… _how? Why?_"

"It's a very long and somewhat complicated story," the doctor answered smoothly. "I'll fill you all in on the details soon, but, right now, it's important for me to speak with Lieutenant Cavanaugh and the FBI. Suffice it to say that I'm back, and I have no intention of going anywhere else, unless Jane is going with me."

"Does Tommy know?" Frankie looked to his sister, who shook her head in the negative. "I'll drive over to his job and tell him. I can't believe this." He looked back to doctor. "We missed you, Maura." With some awkwardness, he stepped forward and gave her a hug. Pulling back, he took his leave to go see his younger brother.

"This can't be real." Angela shook her head. "I can't believe it." She stood there, staring and unsure of what to do.

Maura stepped forward and hugged her. She was relieved when Angela returned the hug with force. "I've missed you and your cooking. Where I've been is a place that prefers to fry everything."

The older woman chuckled. "I can't imagine you eating any of that." She pulled back but kept her hands on the other woman's arms. "I'm so glad you're here. I just can't believe it." She wiped at her eyes. "Jane hasn't been the same since you… while you've been away."

"I know," Maura answered quietly. "But I'm here now."

"Thank God," Angela muttered as she gave a relieved look toward her daughter.


	33. Chapter 33

Jane stepped inside BPD with Maura following closely behind her, and, for a very brief moment, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. People milled about the lobby as security checked identification and ran people through the metal detectors. Everything was as it had been, but that all came to a grinding halt as Jane stepped up to the security desk.

"Sup, Hannigan?" She handed over her ID to the uniformed working security.

"Rizzoli," he grinned, "you ever go home?" He shook his head as he made a notation on the entry sheet.

"Nah, I live here." She winked. "Got a guest with me." She paled just a little as she handed over the newly minted identifications for the woman who strode up to stand next to her at the security desk. "Doctor Maura Isles."

"No way." He glanced from the IDs in his hand to the honey brunette standing in front of him and back to the items in his hand. "No _frickin' _way." His voice rose, and, as it did so, other people's attention turned to the desk. "You're dead." His eyes bulged. "I mean, it can't be. We went to your funeral. You were… you were…"

"Dead, yes," Maura tried to hold back her sigh. "But, as you can see, I'm much better now."

Jane's jaw dropped. "Maura," she said, not bothering to hold back her surprise. "Did you just crack a joke?"

"I think my boss's humor at the law firm has influenced me," the doctor replied with an eye roll. "Officer Hannigan, I'm so sorry there isn't a better way to reintroduce myself to the police department, but time is of the essence. It's vitally important that Jane and I meet with Lieutenant Cavanaugh as soon as possible."

"This can't be right." Crowe's voice pulled through the crowd of murmuring voices. "What kind of sick joke you trying to pull over on us, Rizzoli? How'd you find someone that looks so much like the doc? I mean, we all knew a couple of your screws had come loose, but…"

"I am _not _and actor, Detective Crowe." Maura's eyes flashed with irritation. "I was in Witness Protection. Clearly, I'm no longer in the program. The story is extremely long, and, should we feel like it, we'll tell it to you. Now," she turned back to the uniformed officer at the security desk, "let me in the building," the word 'now' seemed to be unspoken, but the word that came from the petite woman was a very cutting, "please."

Hannigan swallowed down the lump and tried to compose himself. He ran her ID through the system, and it not only confirmed the identification was valid but that she was, in fact, not dead. There was no mention in the system of her death certificate or the possibility the ID might be a fake. "Marshalls work fast, don't they?" With a shaking hand, he gave the items back.

Jane shrugged. "I guess she's alive again in the system?" The uniform nodded. Jane gave a nod of her as if to say she approved and then turned to follow the doctor through the metal detector. "This is going to be the longest walk to Cavanaugh's office ever," she grumbled to the other woman.

"Even longer than the time you accidentally scratched his car when you and Frost were playing Office Chair Race Car in the parking lot?" Maura smiled at the memory.

Jane shot her an annoyed look. "Yeah, but only by a little bit."

* * *

As Jane and Maura entered the homicide are of the precinct, all eyes were on them. The detective was full of nervous energy, and she didn't bother to try to hide her need to constantly have a hand on the doctor, to have a physical reassurance the other woman was actually there.

Frost and Korsak gave a nod of their head as the two passed by on their way to the Lieutenant's office while everyone else stopped working entirely and stared at the ghost passing them by.

At the closed office door of her supervisor, Jane stopped and took in a deep breath. "Here we go. You ready?"

"Yes," Maura nodded, posture ramrod straight, "let's get this over with."

Jane knocked and entered. Cavanaugh looked up from his desk and, before he could comment, Maura followed in. The last thing the rest of the office heard before the door shut was the Lieutenant's surprised voice uttering, "Oh my God, Rizzoli. What the hell is this?!"

EPILOGUE

"I'm glad Trish is talking, it's great we don't have worry about O'Toole, and I'm glad that, while you were away, you were treated well, but, come on, Maura!" Jane gave a little stomp of her foot. "Do we _really _have to go to Alabama for our vacation? Can't we go somewhere else? _Anywhere _else?" She huffed as she continued to pack.

"Jane," the honey brunette's voice was calm, but it was clear her patience was running thin. "We've discussed this. It's been two years. The trial has finally come to an end, and I told you that I assured Regina that I would let her know how everything finally turned out."

"Okay, fine, but you couldn't just give her a call or send an email or skype or something?" With a grunt, Jane picked her suitcase up and put it down on the ground. "Why do we have to actually go there? It's July, Maura. Do you know how hot and humid it's going to be _in Alabama_?"

"Yes, I do." Maura finally rolled her eyes. "Regina and her partner were very good to me, Jane, and I like them a lot. Now that there's no danger, I would very much like to meet them as myself, and," she walked over to wrap her arms around the taller woman's neck and give her a kiss, "I'd like for them to meet my wife."

Still pouting, Jane gave a relenting sigh. "Okay, fine, but I make no promises that I won't drink a bunch of sweet iced tea and keep you up until three in the morning while we're down there."

"If you keep me up until three in the morning, Detective Isles," Maura said with a smirk on her face, "it had better be for reasons other than a sugar high."

Jane grinned. "Challenge accepted."

"Good," Maura pulled away to finish her own packing. "We only have twenty minutes before our car service arrives to pick us up. Finish packing so we can leave on time, Jane."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." The detective rolled her eyes. "So bossy."

"You like my bossy."

"Yeah, I do, but I don't like flying to Alabama."

"Jane…"

* * *

**Done! *does a little happy dance***


End file.
